Giving Up Our Lives
Sacrifice
“There will be countless opportunities to witness for Christ and to give up our lives for the sake of Christ. There will be many opportunities to “lay down our life” for another person in need, probably even today – not in some ostentatious act of heroism and notoriety, but more likely in some very mundane and rather hidden way.”—Br. Curtis Almquist, Society of Saint John the Evangelist
Sacrifice may be a word we have forgotten or lost from our vocabulary. We have become so polarized that we cannot sacrifice our beliefs to listen to each other. Yet we know we are so right and deserving. Our recent example of sacrifice came from a former president, who gave up his ambition and the belief that he was the right person to lead this country. It became clear that his legacy would not endure in this country if he did not step down from the nomination for a second term. He also told us how difficult that decision was.
First of all, the sacrifice we are required to make is simply to listen to those who think differently from us. On the surface, we may believe others are trying to take away our rights and those of others. They are so wrong. The sacrifice may simply involve listening to the other side. How did they get there? What triggered their fears? My experience is that wounded people want someone to listen to their stories. Then maybe they will listen to our story. It is not a quick fix. It takes time. It means we consciously look for the Christ in each other. Sometimes the process may take years.
During the pandemic, everyone I spoke with knew someone who had died or been infected, often a beloved family member. We desperately wanted to be together again, back to our old life. We learned this would not happen unless each of us made sacrifices. We had to wear masks indoors at large gatherings and get vaccinated. We would never live the life we once had. Things would be different.
We learned that we would lose many whom we dearly loved unless we continued to make sacrifices.
The hardest sacrifice for us was not being able to see the family members we love so much. We had to settle for seeing our grandchildren, Zoe and Turner, through a picture window.
Every day, we should remember and celebrate that this is no longer how we have to live.
Sacrificing for the whole has been ingrained in our country’s DNA. We must remember our history and re-member. We are called to become members of the body, not a mass of individuals with shouting voices and our fingers in our ears.
It is called Crossing the Divide.
Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/