It’s something I’ve been thinking about. I heard the phrase on a new Caedemon’s Call song. The artist sings about laundry, and dishes, and kids and wonders, “What if everything is sacred?”

What if it is?

We tend to divide our lives into sacred and not, church and not, God and not. Yet He created all things and is in all things. When we imagine that there are aspects of our lives that are apart from God, we deny the power of God.

He knows every hair on our head.
He knows what we are going to say before we say it.
He collects our tears in a bottle.

Therefore, He knows us pretty darn well. Better, in fact, than we know ourselves.

That might make us uncomfortable, because we like the idea of being our own bosses or really, our own gods. A god is in control. A god makes the decisions and leads the way. We want to be the mini god of our own (messed up) lives. Therefore, we try to box God up like a pair of shoes.

In our minds, we allow Him out on Sundays or when we’re in deep crisis. Then we put Him back in the box, and put the box back on the shelf.

We even speak to God as if He’s in a box. It’s like ordering at a drive through. There’s a speaker box and we speak briefly into it. We don’t see the person we’re speaking to. We don’t even care about the person we’re ordering from. It’s a nameless, faceless being who will fill our needs. Do you speak that way to God?

“I’d like a value meal.” God, I’d like a new job.“And a Frosty.” God, a bonus check would be nice around Christmas.

We drive around to pick up our order. We imagine God is the same way. Therefore, we're confused and even incensed when He doesn’t give us what we ordered. But God is not a drive-through.

God does not exist in a box. He is the entire world and everything in it.
We should not think that a drive-through relationship is enough. It's not.

It’s seriously hard to absorb that we were created in God’s own image, that He sacrificed all for us to live, and that He has work for us to do, work created since before there was time.

It is a heck of a lot easier to turn on the TV and watch LA Ink or Jon-and-Kate-plus-8, and lose ourselves in someone else’s wacky life.

Wait, is even that sacred?
No, LA Ink can’t be sacred…can it? But if EVERYTHING is Sacred???

I will admit that show fascinates me. (Local readers will recall that I gave up Miami Ink because they got really smutty, which seems to happen in Season 2 or 3 of every single TV show ever created.) LA Ink is new, and so far it’s not been smutty. It shows people coming with their very unique stories and a deep need to save a moment in time. I can relate. Scrapbook or tattoo, we all long for a permanent reminder of our significance.

Last night there was a guy who got a Phoenix tattoo, to commemorate his rebirth from back surgery. He had to learn how to walk again. This is not an experience he is likely to forget. The tattoo, however, allows him to tell the story to anyone who will ask. (Note: Always ask people what their tattoo means. They are delighted and it’s a really interesting conversation-starter!)

There was a beautiful young woman who had a portrait of her infant son tattooed in the crook of her arm, right where she nestled him in life. He died of crib death when he was 2 months old. Now his mom will literally “wear her heart on her sleeve”, in the form of his tiny, perfect face. He had just learned how to smile.

There was an LA entrepreneur who had a quote from Joan of Arc tattooed on her back. It said, “I am not afraid…I was born to do this.” Legend has it that Joan spoke these words before her final battle. Why doesn’t this lady simply put these words on her business card? She'll take these words to the grave.

Could it be that everything is sacred?

Tattoos and prayers?
Seasons and chores?
Reality TV and time?

Could it be that everything is sacred….whether we realize it or not?

God does not live in a shoebox.
He inhabits all the earth.

Everything is sacred.

What do you think?