Tag-Archive for ◊ families ◊

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What does the word “sacrifice” conjure up in your mind? What Does Sacrifice Mean to You?

To our military personnel sacrifice is giving up their personal lives to fight for our country. It means leaving spouses, children, family members and friends, and sometimes it means never coming back. That is truly an enormous sacrifice.

The spouses of these individuals are faced with the burdens of maintaining a household and the needs of their children single handed. Although my husband did not go into the military, I was divorced and left to be a single mother for two beautiful daughters. I know first-hand what this entails. It is not an easy task.

It seems recently there has been a lot of mention on TV programs about World War II and those that lost their lives. Mention has been made of all of the medals they won and what heroes they are. But what a void remains in our hearts for those that never returned home.

I was barely born during World War II, but I do remember the Viet Nam War. I remember holding my breath as my husband’s draft number came within two of the cut off. Our daughters were just babies. I lived in fear of losing him.

We do not even have to relate the sacrifice to war. How many people serving our communities as police officers, firemen/women have lost their lives to save the lives of others? Sacrifice is a daily part of our lives.

Another sacrifice that was brought to my mind was those who lost their lives under the cruel rule of Adolph Hitler. Lisa Kudrow was on the TV show, “Who Do You Think You Are”, and traced her ancestors. She learned the fate of those who were stripped of their clothing, executed and pushed into the pit of destruction. Imagine if you were a child who had escaped and were watching this from a distance. The horror of seeing your parents or family members lose their lives in this fashion is incomprehensible for sure. There was a joyful discovery in locating her father’s family members who are still alive. This brought tears of joy to my heart.

We are faced with various degrees of sacrifice in our lives. With the economy the way it is many families have been faced with losing their homes, cars and other possessions just to have money enough to buy food and feed their children.

Single mothers go without food themselves so that they children will have food to eat. Homeless people go without shelter, food, clothing never losing sight of the hope of finding assistance.

As parents we sacrifice our desires to fulfill the needs and wants of our children. These are joyful sacrifices, as far as I am concerned. We are truly blessed to have these children, if only for a short time.

With Easter approaching my thoughts and heart are awakened thinking about the supreme sacrifice that God made for us. Sending his son Jesus to show us the way and then Jesus’ supreme sacrifice of dying on the cross to save us from our sins. I am sure you will agree that Jesus’ sacrifice can never be duplicated. I am forever grateful for Jesus and the cross at Calvary.

As a final thought, I recently heard it said that the greatest gift of love is not what someone is willing to give, but what they are willing to give up …. This is a true sacrifice.

I hope that your sacrifices will be few and your lives absent of want and filled with His many blessings. Ultimately, I hope you will never have to ask, “What Does Sacrifice Mean to Me.”

Judy Conway
Email: judyconwaymarketing@gmail.com
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