Heart4kidsadvocacyforum's Blog

Why do we feel that we must make sacrifices?  An excellent question that is probably at the core of so many of us in the way we respond to life circumstances.  Of course, there are those of us that feel that it is not in their best interest to sacrifice anything on behalf of anyone, if in fact it does not serve them and their best interest.  Then there are those that have made and are still making so many sacrifices that they lost sight of their need to have anything in reserve for themselves and their own wellbeing.  There has to be a happy medium to this behavior!

The definitions of the word “sacrifice” according to the Oxford Dictionary is “an act of giving up something valued and treasured for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy”.  There is that word “worthy” again! I think we are really still plagued by that issue of worthiness seemingly in other areas of our life and behavior. 

First of all, I feel that in our human relationships there are different levels in our relationships like a sort of hierarchy of what are the most important relationships all the way down the scale to our basic connection as human beings.  If I am to do some act of kindness and support for a family member, in my eyes no matter what it is I don’t deem it to be a sacrifice!  We do things to each other and for each other because there is a relationship of love and when you love someone to sacrifice for them, or to feel what you have done for them called you to sacrifice yourself or something of value to you, then there is a void or hole in the relationship and that is not “love”.  When you love someone, you don’t sacrifice anything you just love on them because in love all there is -is love!  Of course, there are always circumstances where because of someone’s character you might not be in alignment with sharing the gift of love in quite the same way. It will cause you to reflect and using your gift of discernment figure out if what we are doing for that person is helping or hindering their character development- then we must make a tough decision and figure out how to sustain the relationship with integrity and honesty, so that our love for them does not become destructive.  We want to love wisely and unconditionally.

You see what I realize is that “love” is really at the core of whether or not our actions are really sacrifices or acts of “love”.  Sacrifices are acts of loosing of giving up something of yourself or from yourself.  Love is an act of sharing yourself which ultimately enhances your spiritual development and breeds more love and more alignment in our collective humanity.  The answer to the question- “Why do we feel that we must makes sacrifices?” the answer is we don’t! 

We are not called to sacrifice- we are called to “love”.