Recently I was doing a guided meditation when the leader brought us to an altar. Truthfully, I didn’t know how to visualize such a thing. Yes, I can picture a Catholic altar or even an offrenda for dia de los muertes. But what would my own sacred altar consist of? Whose picture would I reverently frame? What could I offer as a gift to some higher power? What might I sacrifice in service of something bigger? I like to play with those images, to consider what the physical manifestation of my spirituality might look like. But those images have become a springboard for a more fundamental question to guide me: which altar will you worship at today?
Will you serve the great master of material productivity today? Will you bow to each and every check on your to do list? Maybe. I’ve had plenty of those days (years?) How about the patriarchy? Will you sacrifice your divine motherhood, that tie to the women whose bodies brought you here and the women who will bring it forth? Are you worshipping at an altar you should be burning?
I am waking up to the idea that every day I am alive I am in service of something. The beauty of it is that my thoughts set the altar, my actions send the prayer.