Living And Dying

I have a thing for altars.

New seasons, new struggles, new joys (and in the case of the above, new family) often don’t seem complete until their legacy has been permanently recognized by the building of one.

It’s just a pile of rocks, I know.
But to me, an altar sits there and silently throbs something much deeper than just a pile of rocks. It represents the essence of the things Christians live for. The things Christians die for.

The living, the giving, the losing and gaining. . .

The offering consumed, a sacrifice acceptable.

We don’t offer animals anymore. We don’t need to.
Forever and always, we offer our hearts. 

Our lives are lived on an altar, ready to be consumed for His glory.
Because this death is, in fact, life everlasting.

And all who would bring forth fruit as workers together with Christ must first fall into the ground and die. The life must be cast into the furrow of the world's need. Self-love, self-interest, must perish. But the law of self-sacrifice is the law of self-preservation. The seed buried in the ground produces fruit, and in turn this is planted. Thus the harvest is multiplied. The husbandman preserves his grain by casting it away. So in human life, to give is to live. The life that will be preserved is the life that is freely given in service to God and man. Those who for Christ's sake sacrifice their life in this world, will keep it unto life eternal. COL 86.3