Invitation to Mizpah

This is a post for blogger types. And/or people like me who, as hard as we try not to, allow ‘likes’ or ‘fan’ numbers to dominate a sense of well-being. Of love. Joy. Belonging.

I want to invite you to Mizpah. I think Mizpah looks like this.

This is a picture of our Thanksgiving table before my family and I sat down to eat together.

We had pasta (yep, big bowl of pasta with red sauce), rosemary rolls, and a gorgeous green salad. It was cool outside, about 65 degrees. We listened to Pandora’s Ben Howard station and laughed and sipped on wine while the sun slipped behind the trees. A little piece of heaven on earth.

So Mizpah. And your invitation.

I have discovered, I am very, very, very tired of being jealous. And I keep reading about the scary stuff jealousy does to people … selfish ambition, bitter zeal and whatnot.

Then this morning, I was reading through a book by Eugene Peterson and he talked about Laban and Jacob (two guys full of bitter zeal) and their wise decision to put an end to it, set up an altar and eat a meal. From Peterson’s book:

They set up an altar pillar and ate a covenantal meal before it. They named the pillar, “Watching Place” (Mizpah). They spent twenty years watching each other suspiciously … here they agreed to quit watching each other and let God watch them.

Sooo. I am going to stop watching you. Stop wondering how you got 12,000 followers on instagram and twitter. Or pondering those 30 shares on Facebook. I’m finished thinking I need to read a few books, follow the instructions and have a huge ‘platform.’ And I’m nearly, almost at the place I can pray what my husband is now praying: “To make me nothing.” (This post just might do it.)

I have a Father. He is independently wealthy. He has all influence. With the flick of his pinkie, he can make whatever he wants out of me and my words. So, I offer my ‘now’ to him. I sit down to a covenant meal. Placing every ambition as a stone, to build this altar, Mizpah.

Will you join me? (I am nearly scared to ask … )

Will you come to this table? Eat a meal with me. Drink wine. Laugh and watch the moon shine high in the dark sky. And then together in the candlelight, we’ll build a cairn with all our ridiculous ideas to get ahead and our super weird social media addictions. Stone by stone, piled high, we’ll construct this ‘Watching Place’ for God.

When the night ends, we’ll smile. Pray. Hug. And head home knowing we’re different. Because together we made a covenant with God ~ that he is enough.

I’m leaving a spot at the table … won’t you come and take a seat?