We stood there together, the elderly man and I, watching the sun slowly fade upon another day.  We had just met, yet within minutes, “connected” over our adorable dogs, our appreciation of correct grammar, and most of all, our admiration of sunsets.  As we gushed over the beauty before us, the shared sentiment that there’s just “something” about sunsets, and the agreement that sunsets are preferred over sunrises any day, there was an unspoken bond: we were both sun(set) admirers.  In the few moments we shared, all that mattered was that the other beheld and appreciated the beauty of the sun.

We didn’t know one another’s political stance, thoughts on masks, or opinions on a myriad of other hot topics.  That didn’t matter.  We were in the presence of another sun-admirer doing what a sun-admirer does: marveling at its beauty.  

And that was enough.

My thoughts turned to my fellow SON-admirers, my brothers and sisters in Christ.  In today’s climate, it seems that for many, the temptation is to magnify our differences,  our disagreements, and our dissensions.  

What if, however, we got back to simply marveling at HIS beauty, beholding HIS majesty, admiring the SON?  What if we acknowledged that HE is larger than our differences?  What if we magnified Jesus and made His redemptive work, both on a large scale and in one another’s individual lives, greater than our disagreements?   This isn’t to say we avoid hard conversations – but it is to say that regardless of where the hard conversations take us, there is something greater still: the mutual admiration of the Son.  As we choose to look upon HIM and make Him the focal point of all we behold, we remember what (and Who) really matters. 

The commands to walk in unity and the prayer Jesus prayed for His followers to be one will most genuinely be realized as Son-admirers do what they were created to do: worship, love, glorify, trust, and obey the Son.  

Just as the elderly man and I noticed the children crying or the dogs barking around us, nothing took our eyes off of the sky.  As sun-admirers, nothing was able to distract us from the glorious hues displayed before us.

Similarly, as SON-admirers, while we can’t help but notice the noise around us or the need to address concerns among us, above it all, may we not take our eyes off of the Son.  Let us not stop beholding Him, marveling at His beauty, and in short, magnifying HIM.

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad.  Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”  (Psalm 34:1-3)

“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.”  (Psalm 95:6-7)

May the psalmist’s words reflect – or become – the greatest desire of our heart – to magnify the Lord and invite other Son-admirers to do the same!  How good it is to magnify Him, to behold the One who is worthy of our awe – to be a Son-admirer above all else!