The Sacrificial Life

This one is easy for me. I am a stay at home mom. We know all about sacrifice. We gave up our careers to stay at home and be with our little ones. And I can honestly say that I do it without resentment. I love being with my kids. It breaks my heart when I drive by a day care center and see a mom carrying her little child in. I couldn't do it.

I have been a wife for twenty years and a mom for 19. That is alot of years of sacrifice. Don't believe what they tell you, newlyweds. Marriage is not 50/50. If it is to go well and not end in divorce, it is 100/100. You have to give all. I give all of myself to my husband, and he gives all of himself to me.

But in today's world, suffering and sacrifice are such bad words. You shouldn't be giving too much of yourself, because, oh horror, you might lose yourself! You must find your inner self and nourish it and pamper it at a spa.

Now, I am not against treating yourself or finding some time alone to pamper. We all need a rest, a break. But some people think this should be their life. A life of ease. But that is not what God wants. He wants us to depend on Him. He wants us to give to others until there is nothing left so He can fill us up and we can start all over again. He wants us to lose ourselves because then we gain HEAVEN!

And as far as I can tell, heaven is gonna be a much better place than any spa could ever be.

Do we have to do huge things to gain heaven? No. My very favorite saint is Saint Therese. I have loved her since I was a little girl. She believed that doing little things with great love was the way to go. If your job was to sweep the floor, sweep it the best that you can with love and joy in your heart. Offer it up to God. That mound of laundry that you have been stepping over. Do it with happiness, ok, maybe just not so much grumbling, and thank God that your family has clothes for you to wash!

What is our biggest obstacle to sacrifice? Our PRIDE. Think about it. I pretty much have figured out in my 48 years of life that everything comes back to my pride. All of my sins in some way are rooted in my pride. As soon as I think that I am too good for something, well, there goes my pride rearing it's ugly head. "I don't want to sacrifice for that person. They don't deserve it. They are nasty to me, they get all the attention, they have it all........". Fill in your own words.

Pride, pride, pride. Jesus always taught that we should seek the last place, the lowliest seat at the table, be the last one in line. St. Faustina says in her diary that we should always think of others as better than ourselves. If we do that then sacrificing for others is easy. But not a woe is me, I am a scumbag type of thing. But I am just a little child, just a little servant of God, do with me as You will kind of person.

St. Therese wanted to be a child's toy in the hands of Jesus, something He played with. Blessed Mother Teresa wanted to be a pencil in God's hands.

Me, I want to be a marker. Making the world more colorful, and I don't worry about mistakes, because God can make beautiful things with a marker, even when I make mistakes.

He can make it beautiful. I supply the sacrifices, He turns it into a work of art.

God is a good God!