I did not realize how much of me I had lost! Everyday its like my fogged memories are clearing. I am starting to smile more. I never knew that I had started giving up on pieces of me. I started making my world smaller. I think I hoped the smaller my world the lesser I would hurt. It is like I am claiming myself back. Little my little.
On a lighter note, I did listen to a couple of shorts audio stories. It was like a blast from the past. It had been years since I read a book or even heard an audio book. Also, lets be real, I had a spout of impulse purchase today. I need to stop it. I need to start using the stuff I buy. I am going to start by restricting myself to an amount for the month. Hopefully, over time i can reduce the budget until finally I buy stuff only when I actually need it.
This prompt is something you really need to think about. My instant thought when I think of sacrifice is all the things that I had to give up in life. When I had to walk past a toy that I really wanted because it was too costly. When I had to give away my gifts because my cousins had lesser. When I had to give up my dream degree because my parents didn’t want to be alone.
But now that I have taken a minute, they were never sacrifices. They were choices that I had to make with age. After you grow up these childhood “sacrifices” you realize were just things that you had to let go. It was about choosing between two things. I was not giving up anything for anybody.
Sacrifice is when my parents gave up on pursuing their education to save up for my future education. They gave up their health because check ups “costly” or “not required”. The real reason was they wanted to provide for the family even if it meant that they become sicker. Even when they were tired and exhausted just one whine from me and they would carry me in their arms.
Sacrifice is what my sister did. When we were children, she always gave the bigger piece of the chocolate she loved. She is immensely talented. However, when there was a school program she never gave her name because my parents could not afford paying for us both. She didn’t pursue her career dream because that meant that I could not afford to have a dream.
But the biggest sacrifice of all is what Jesus did for me. We do not like when we get punishment when we do something wrong. He was punished when he did nothing wrong. He took that punishment without a word of protest so I could be guilt free. He gave His life for me so I could have life. When sins closed my way to God He broke down the walls to pull me closer.
Sacrifices are those that can never be paid back. All I can hope is be worthy of the sacrifices made for me. Maybe one day when I does come to me I also am willing to sacrifice for the people I love.