Sacrifice

After singing a song this morning, a second-grade student raised his hand and asked, “What is sacrifice?”

Not expecting the question, I quickly thought of an answer that didn’t include the word itself. (You’d be surprised at how difficult it is to define a word without using the word or a derivative of the word in its own definition.)

I said, “A sacrifice is something that’s difficult to do. It’s something that you might not want to do but that you know is for the best, so you do it anyway. For instance, a military person might have to go far away from his family for a year. He probably doesn’t want to go far away from his family for a year, but he knows it is his job, so he does it anyway. He makes a sacrifice. Or. Maybe you don’t want to do your homework when you get home but you know you need to do it. In that case, you sacrifice your time to do your homework—something you don’t want to do—because you know it’s the right thing to do. Does that make sense?”

“Yes. It’s like when a military person knows that he might get shot but does his job anyway?”

“Yes…Yes…That is sacrifice.”

And, oh, sweet boy, there are so many sacrifices that people make each day:

A teacher who spends her paycheck on supplies and materials for her students because they otherwise wouldn’t have them;

A mom who skips supper because there isn’t enough food to feed everyone in the house;

A family who chooses not to eat out for the month because they hear of an orphanage that is in dire need of funding;

A couple who tithes every month even though they are barely making ends meet;

A big brother who goes without underwear so that his little brother can wear their one pair;

A doctor who leaves a six-figure job in the city to move to a small town that needs good medical care;

A friend who forfeits concert tickets so that she can visit a friend she knows is hurting;

A parent who buys all of his clothes at the thrift store and packs his lunch every day to save money to send his children to college;

A mom who leaves her family behind to come to the United States to make enough money to provide food, clothing, and shelter in a third world country;

A perfect man who gave his life to pay the price for others’ shortcomings…

So many people make sacrifices each day. But how often do we stop and say thanks?

Loving God, for the sacrifice of your Son, we give you thanks. And for the sacrifices that are made each day to make this world a better place, we offer this prayer of praise. Give us eyes to see the sacrifice around us and give us the bold wisdom to encourage those who need it most. Amen.

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What is a story of sacrifice that moves or inspires you? I would love to hear.