The Good Idea/Sacrifice

Good early Monday morning….

How did you fair Sunday morning getting up just a bit earlier? I can definitely say that I missed an hour or two. Oh well, pretty soon the birds will be singing their beautiful songs…the sun will be up around 6ish or so and then we will say…."hey I can’t sleep with all of this light in my bedroom!"

Today I would like to jump right in and talk about sacrifice. What does sacrifice mean exactly?

The on-line dictionary says….to surrender something, the act of offering something, forfeit something, and relinquish something. Sacrificing something to the Lord.

We sacrifice everyday of our lives; maybe not even aware that we are doing it. Sacrifice becomes part of our daily living.

It could be something as small as giving up your food for someone else in your household. As an example, my Matthew, age 13, eats everything that isn’t nailed down. So when we sit to eat and he has finished his portion, he may get that “are you gonna’ eat that” look in his eyes and then we make a sacrifice and give him what we have left.

Why do we do that….because we love him. We sacrifice to him because we love him and I hate to see that sad…”I’m still hungry look what else do you have!”

We sacrifice our time for others, our talents, and our abilities. When we feel that it is necessary and worthwhile, we will give up and press in.

So OK….let’s say one of your children or a spouse or a friend or even yourself would want something that they/you just cannot “live” without…you know what I’m talking about. Something that just says…."you gotta have me!"

What sacrifices do we make to attain that item? For instance, I can remember the kids wanting I-pods, games, bikes, cell phones, clothes, shoes, CD’s, DVD’s…and so on….so we say, “fine, what are you going to do to make some money to buy or help buy these items?” Or we may say, “OK, what are you going to give up in order to get these other items that you want?”

Funny, funny, funny, in some cases, the item is not so “needed” any longer. Why, because the sacrifice does not want to be made. I guess we don’t want it so bad, now do we?

And…sometimes the only way to acquire something is through sacrifice. You know it is not so bad to deny oneself for the greater purpose.

Sacrifice promotes discipline and discipline is so needed. We cannot always get what we want when we want it. Sometimes we have to give up to get.

A thought just came to me while writing to you….my Mama use to say, “ Nancy , good things come to those that wait.”

I guess we can tie these two together but for now I’ll just say thanks for the memory Mom.

So maybe for today you can sacrifice lunch, or a cookie, or extra times spent shopping and just spend that time in quiet thought. Or look for a Matthew of your own and ask him if he is still hungry! HA HA

Enjoy all that you sacrifice today and remember that will make a difference. Nancy