Ordinary Altars

How to Love the World (Even When It Breaks Your Heart)

You dont always get to change the world, but you do get to love it.

Many of us were taught to look for God in the extraordinary: in big callings, dramatic transformations, affirmations of constant achievement, or in lives that inspire millions. But what if that way of seeing has left us unable to recognize that God is also present in the everyday – especially now, when headlines are overwhelming, our systems feel broken, and hope seems nave? What does it mean to actually live a faithful, meaningful life when the world is on fire and nothing turns out as advertised?

Drawing from her own story of faith, disillusionment, motherhood and decades of work as a spiritual guide, Sarah Bessey believes there comes a time when you decide that being earnest and sincere is better than being defeated. She names what she calls ‘ordinary altars’: places and people where the holy and