Altars are something I have been thinking a lot about lately. I mean the ones like God had the Israelites build after crossing the Jordan river to remember what He has done for them. I am not sure if I do enough altar building in my life. Where I take time or space to remember what God has done, how He answered prayers or showed me His mercy.

At the beginning of the year, I woke up to a disappointment in the middle of the night. Something I was not expecting had happened and I was sad. As I tried to fall back asleep, I was trying to say Psalms 23 over in my head because I had memorized it as a comfort keeper in times of trouble. My mind would go through each verse but when I got to verse 5, I got stuck. The verse is “my cup overflows”, but in that moment, I could not remember the tense of the verse. Was it my cup has overflown? My cup overflowed? My cup will overflow?

Then, in the middle of the night, the Lord gently reminded me that this verse is in the present tense. As in, it is currently happening. In the midst of disappointment or sorrow or pain, my cup overflows because of Him. My Good Shepherd. Right now, in every present moment, God makes our cup overflow with His love and blessings. We have to remember that this is in the present tense so we don’t look off into the future hoping for a better day or long for the past when life was simpler. We live in the present and so does our Savior.

When morning light came, there was still an ache in my heart, but I held on to God’s midnight reminder. It was a Saturday morning so of course that means pancakes, eggs, and bacon in the LaDuque household, but it also meant errands needed to be run. After a delicious breakfast made by my master chef husband, we headed off to town. We “somehow” ended up at one of my favorite stores that I just so happened to have a gift card to.

Colby and I were shopping around, and I looked in the little hallway with all the wall décor and there it was. A little sign that had Psalms 23:5 written in cursive. Immediately I knew I had to buy it. Not in an “oh my gosh this is so cute I just have to buy it” way (it is cute though), but in a “this will be an altar to remember what the Lord said to me” kind of way. Sure, it’s no rock structure to remember the safe crossing of a raging river type of altar, but to me, I look at it everyday and remember that God not only hears me in my pain but speaks to me.

It reminds me that I am constantly being overflowed with love and grace and blessings even in trials. It is something I will continue to hang in my house so one day my children will ask me about it and I can tell them of God’s kindness. That is what altars are for. In Joshua, God commanded the Israelites to build the altar so generations down the line will know what God did for them.

Just like someone chooses a unique decoration as a conversational piece, we should be putting up altars to remind us and our kids and our friends and any houseguests that God is living and moving in our lives. It doesn’t always have to be something you purchase and display in the home. I think journaling can also be an altar if we are writing to remember what God is doing. This requires that we open our eyes and hearts to see where God is working. Proper recognition requires time spent with the Provider to see where He provides. Whether it’s big or small, we should be building altars to remind us to give God glory for all that He has done for us.