I want to talk to you today about Sacrifice. What is Sacrifice? My definition of sacrifice is putting yourself on the backburner for another person. Before we were born, our parents had ambitions of a better life. They had us, and had to sacrifice their dreams to take care of us. It takes a special person to sacrifice because you don't know when the time will come for them to sacrifice for you, or whether they will return the favor. As much as I hate saying this, I have to be honest: You're going to sacrifice at some point in life. At work, you have plans of hanging out with co-workers after your shift ends, but your boss mandates OT for the entire department because a deadline must be met by Monday at noon. Your boss has his staff work all weekend to meet the deadline. You can't refuse mandatory overtime or you'll face disciplinary action. In marriage, sacrifice is mandatory if kids come into the picture. Your days of having fun are long gone because raising children requires a lot of time. You're investing in your children so they grow up to be productive members of society. Gone are the days of staying out until midnight on a weekday, or until 2am on the weekends. A husband wants a new yacht, but his wife wants a luxury vacation to San Trope. 9 times out of 10, the husband has to sacrifice his yacht to take his wife on a vacation. No matter what, you're going to sacrifice in life. It's part of co-existing with your fellow man. The only way you won't sacrifice is if you live life as a loner, and even then you'll still sacrifice for the greater good. If you're in a relationship with someone and you're doing all the sacrifice, you need to re-evaluate that relationship. A relationship involves BOTH contributing 100%. There will be times when one person is giving more than the other, but if you're the one always sacrificing for your spouse, you need to evaluate what's in it for you. I'm all for sacrifice if it's for my greater good. If the sacrifice isn't benefitting me, then I won't do it. Even if I do sacrifice for the greater good, chances are I will expect sacrifice in return. It's the right thing to do.
