Little Altars Everywhere……………

2/2/11 ………………is more than just a title of a novel I read in 1993. The sequel, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, came out 5 years later. I know these things not from memory, but because all of this info is noted in one of my book journals. At best, these notations are a hodgepodge sketch of what I’ve read. BTW, these books are not a spiritual read---but more like dysfunctional reality books that are set in Louisiana in the 60s.

It’s the word altar from that title that has captured me lately. It had me wondering if I had altars scattered throughout my life. “Mizbe'ah,” Hebrew for “altar,” means “to slay” though altars evoke thoughts of sacred places. A sacred place where I knelt (on the maroon cushioned pads at the altar of FUMC in Hoptown) as I took communion alongside Daddy. A religious rite of bowing down and worshipping the One who was slain for me. One worthy of my worship at that altar.

What are the altars in my life? From a previous entry, folks know that I have built altars of ease and convenience. What am I so-o-o worshipping that I’m giving up, or sacrificing, or in effect slaying other things for, in order to keep these altars in my life? Ask yourself that hard question. Some of these sacrifices are very costly. How many altars are you erecting in your life? . “Not so little” altars of affluence or materialism seem to be erected in the homes of many Americans.

Recently, during a conversation with a young man, I became aware of his lifestyle being one of sacrificing the eternal on the altar of the immediate. (pleasure & instant gratification) That, my friends, is a very dangerous altar. But before we begin to look down our noses at those damaging choices, we need to consider the number of times we, too, have sacrificed opportunities with eternal implications because we were kneeling at the altar of busyness. Have you ever sacrificed relationships on the altar of work?

In the past I have certainly sacrificed time with family on the “altar of books.” But God …..showed me how I, at times, had wisely balanced & combined the two by sharing that book loving part of me with my own children. There it was in writing at the bottom of the page containing “Little Altars…” a list of books I had read aloud in 1993 to Josh and Molly. Josh was a senior in high school and he still shared that time with me. To this day he and Molly both talk about The Education of Little Tree as one of their favorite books from our read-aloud times. Even when they were in elementary and junior high, they listened as I read aloud Good-by Mr. Chips (9) and The Yearling (12) each morning to their older brother, Buddy. Shared adventures, through books with one’s kids, bring balance and topple self-serving altars. It’s those “self-serving little altars” we need to topple.