In our modern culture, we've drawn a very sharp line between the "sacred" and the "secular." The sacred is Sunday morning, devotional time, worship. The secular is everything else: washing dishes, answering emails, folding laundry, playing with our children.
We live jumping between these two worlds, often feeling that our real spiritual life only happens in those brief moments of "connection," while the rest of our life is just a simple to-do list.
But the Gospel's invitation is far more radical and beautiful. It invites us to erase that line. It invites us to understand that we don't need to escape our ordinary lives to find God, because He desires to dwell precisely within them. The invitation is to build an altar in the midst of the everyday.
The apostle Paul expressed it this way to the church in Corinth, a city preoccupied with worldly things:
“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31, RVR1960)
"Doing everything for the glory of God" doesn't mean we have to quote the Bible while washing dishes. It means that the way we wash those dishes—with gratitude for the food, with diligence, with a peaceful heart—can be an act of worship.
When we bake bread, we are not just mixing flour and water; we are participating in the miracle of provision and creativity. When we clean our house, we are not just tidying up the chaos; we are cultivating a space of peace and hospitality. When we listen to a friend with our full attention, we are reflecting the character of a God who listens to us.
The altar of the everyday is built with intention. It's a change of perspective. It's about ceasing to see our routines as interruptions to our spiritual life, and beginning to see them as the very stage where our faith becomes real.
Today, I invite you to look at your day differently. What are those "ordinary" tasks in front of you? That spreadsheet, that pile of laundry, that dinner you have to prepare? Take a moment and dedicate yourself to them. Decide to do them not with resignation, but with presence and gratitude. Transform the murmur of complaint into the whisper of adoration.
Because when routine is transformed into gratitude and duty becomes devotion, life itself becomes an altar.