At work, which is what I call my shops, is a little altar that I have created. It is mounted against the wall behind the counter I stand at and wait on my customers. I build these little altars wherever I am because I need the reminder all the little figurines offer me.
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| Mother Mary, Buddha and Ganesh along with a fine feathered chicken. |
The reminder that I have divine protection and to keep the faith. Times are difficult, no make that hard for so many right now and every day my heart breaks a little more when I hear of the troubles people are having. Children living in cars, people homeless and foreclosed on, pets being abandoned, jobs lost, hopes trampled on.
Somehow, in midst of all this chaos my little altar reminds me of the divine in my life, the divine in other people and to never forget to pray for hope and peace, love and healing.
Wherever we get our sense of religion, however it may be presented to us, it serves to remind me that there is a higher purpose in all that I do.
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| Buddhas, Confucius, Guadalupe and another chicken. * |
The altar also starts so many conversations with customers and friends. People ask to see the figurines, hold them, turn them over in their hands and often remark on what a piece means to them or how they should begin their own altar. Almost everyone has a piece they have collected through the years and I hear the stories of what their figurines mean to them. Conversations that allow me to form a deeper relationship with a person and the divine light that lives within them.
And somehow, this has all become an extension of the beads. It is the beads that brought to me joy and prayer in my daily life and it is the beads that bring people in.
There you have it, the divine side of life according to the charms of Lois.
p.s. Someday, I will tell you the stories of my chickens and why they also are on my altar.
