Sacrifice as a Gift

 

What do we mean when we say that we made a sacrifice? 

Before he died, Walter, my spiritual mentor, wanted to give me a gift. He had three bronze horses that he had purchased years ago and he knew that I loved to ride and care for these creatures. I suggested that perhaps he would prefer to give them to a favorite student or a family member, but he insisted they would have a good home in my care. 

Sacrifice is an old fashion word we rarely hear much from the altar. Yet, it goes on in everyday life. Mom gets her children ready for school that’s a sacrifice. She rides them to their music lessons after school, that’s a sacrifice, she feeds and nurses them when they are sick, that’s a sacrifice. Oh yes, and dad works 80 hours a week, that’s a huge sacrifice. 

To properly receive anything, including life itself, requires that we recognize it precisely as gift, as something undeserved. A gift, by definition, is something that is not deserved but given freely. 

What is our first impulse when we are given a gift? Our instinctual response is: “I can't take this! I don't deserve this!” To Walt I begged, please give your bronze horses to someone else. In essence, that gesture, that healthy instinctual response, is an attempt to give the gift back to its giver. But, of course, the giver refuses to take the gift back and re-gives it to us with the assurance: “But I want you to have this!” When we receive it the second time, it is now more properly ours because, by trying to give it back, we recognized that it was a gift, unmerited, undeserved.

That is the essence of sacrifice: to properly receive anything, including life itself, requires that we recognize it precisely as gift, as something undeserved. And to do that requires sacrifice, a willingness to give some or the entire gift back to its giver.

We see this in the ritual of ancient sacrifice. For example: a farmer would harvest a crop. But, before he or his family would eat a even mouthful of it, he would take some of it (the “first-fruits”) and offer it back to God in the form of a sacrifice, usually by burning it so that that the smoke rising up to the heavens would take some of the crop back to God whom the farmer saw as the real giver of that crop. After sacrificing some of it in this way, the farmer and his family could now enjoy the rest of it without guilt because, by trying to give it back to its author, they made themselves more aware that it was gift. They can now enjoy it without guilt precisely because, through sacrifice, they have acknowledged it as gift.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who daily sacrifice their time and energy taking care of their parents, children and neighbors who need their careful attention. Yes, it is a major sacrifice and it can be exhausting. So now, grab a cup of tea and take a break and thank God for the gifts you have to help make someone's life more comfortable, safe and joyful with your help. You are the best of God’s creation.