Sometimes You Sacrifice

It amazes me sometimes how the posts and stories that get the most views are ones about "Funks" or time when things just aren't that great. I love the responses too. Not that people go through "funks", because they just aren't fun. But that people are so willing to be open about how they go through it too and perfect strangers can give support to each other.

Something I've been thinking about for the past oh... 12 hours or so... that I think sometimes either cause our funks or play a hand in them ... is sacrifice.



When I look back at the last few years I can see so many things and people I've had to let go of. It's not necessarily material sacrifices as though I were leaving on a jet plane. But there has been a lot. At least to me there has been.

Family

Friends

My hometown

Performing

Relationships

It's not like I never see my family and friends or that I can never go back to my hometown or anything like that. But I know that I don't get to see them as often as I would like. There have been events and moments that I have missed because I've had to let go. There are friendships that aren't as strong as I would like for them to be. Simply because of natural separations of moving and graduating from school. It's not anyone's fault. It just is what it is.

We all have to sacrifice something at some point don't we? We have to sacrifice for things and people that we love. For what we believe in.

When you look through the New Testament, you see that Jesus asks his followers to give up a lot.

Farther along the road, a man volunteered to become a disciple. 
Volunteer: I'll follow You to any destination.
Jesus: Foxes are at home in their burrows. Birds are at home in their nests. But the Son of Man has no home. You (to another person) - I want you to follow Me!
Another Volunteer: I'd be glad to, Teacher, but let me first attend to my father's funeral. 
Jesus: Let the dead bury their dead. I'm giving you a different calling - to go and proclaim the kingdom of God. 
A Third Volunteer: I'll come Jesus, I'll follow You. But just let me first run home to say good-bye to my family.
Jesus: Listen, if your hand is on the plow but your eyes are looking backwards, then you're not fit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 9:57-62 The Voice


Jesus: If any of you come to Me without hating your own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and yes, even your own life, you can't be My disciple. If you don't carry your own cross as if to your own execution as you follow Me, you can't be part of My movement . . . In the same way, if you want to be My disciple, it will cost you everything. Don't underestimate that cost! 
Luke 14:26-27 & 33 The Voice


Brothers and sisters, in light of all I have shared with you about God's mercies, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to God, a sacred offering that brings Him pleasure; this is your reasonable, essential worship. Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete.
Romans 12:1-2 The Voice

Ouch. Pretty harsh words. I don't want to appear to be this girl with a crazy martyr mentality. This isn't about "woe is me I've suffered so much." That's not it. Let me try to explain.

I know some of my readers aren't Christian, so these passages can be hard to relate to. But haven't we all had to give up something along the way for something or someone? Haven't we all had to make sacrifices at some point in our lives? And sacrifice hurts.

Sometimes you sacrifice so you can be with the person you love.

Sometimes you sacrifice for the career you have chosen.

Sometimes you sacrifice for your faith.

Sometimes you sacrifice to find yourself.

Sometimes you sacrifice to get away.

Maybe there is another reason I haven't mentioned that you've had to sacrifice.

Not all of us have had to move hundreds, or even thousands of miles away from our family and friends. Not all of us have had to give up our lives or possessions or passions. And that's OK. Maybe you haven't had to sacrifice anything yet. And that's OK. We don't all have the same journey or give up the same things. Nothing is wrong with that.

But the thing is . . . it's needed. As much as sacrifice hurts, we need to do it sometimes. I love the image in the story of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader of Eustace being a dragon. If you've seen the movie you have a decent idea of what I'm talking about. But the movie doesn't do as good of a job describing the process he had to go through to become a boy again like the book. How Aslan had to scrape away at Eustace's scales to get down to the boy. How painful it was, but how worth it, it was in the end.

I feel like that's sacrifice. At least GOOD sacrifice. It hurts . . . but you know that it's worth it. It's for a reason. A purpose.

I love the song "What I Did For Love" from the musical A Chorus Line. (And for the record, I liked the song before Lea Michelle sang it on Glee!) The show is all about a group of people who are auditioning to be in a chorus line on Broadway. They all have to tell their stories of how they began as a dancer and how they got to that stage. Each story is different, but each is filled with passion for their love of dancing. Eventually the director asks them what they would do if tomorrow they were unable to dance again. This song is their response:

Kiss today goodbye, the sweetness and the sorrow
Wish me luck the same to you
But I can't regret what I did for love, what I did for love
Look my eyes are dry, the gift was ours to borrow
It's as if we always knew
And I won't forget what I did for love, what I did for love

So what about you? Have you had to sacrifice? 

What did you do for Love?