When You're Feeling Unseen & Unappreciated {Words for Lent}

It's hard to know what that is —

when it's a spotlight

that heats up a prophet's fervor.

 

When ardency kindles with a microphone

and holiness is this blazing performance for audience and applause.

 

But what is that,

that zealous ember in the dark,

when a woman wipes the drool from her father's chin

and carries him down the hall to the toilet,

when a mother lays down bits of her singular life

to wash the bowls and the underwear of the teenager calling her a whore

and a missionary bends in a jungle, a brothel, a slum

and nobody applauds?

 

Are sacrifices the secret, sacred rites

that are gifts

offered with no thought of

return on investment,

given in the dark

when the only light is

His

and your one flaming heart?

 

Who's defining the terms when it's an honor to be awarded

and a sacrifice to be called by God?

 

I do confess to wondering this –

if  the call isn't so much about carrying your Cross across a lit stage

but down the Via Dolorosa

and if the truth of it is

that the word altar comes from the Latin 'altus' meaning high —

because the realest altars burn

where only Heaven sees.

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Every Wednesday, we Walk with Him, posting a spiritual practice that draws us nearer to His heart.To read the entire series of spiritual practices

Next week, as we walk with Him towards Easter, might we consider: The Practice of Sacrifice. We look forward to your thoughts, stories, ideas….

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