Real Sacrifice

-
Dear younger self,
I am so moved by something I read today, and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. I read a rendition of the classic ancient story of Abraham, readying his son Isaac, to become the sacrifice God required of him. The automatic imagery for me thus far in my life when pondering this story is the agony of Abraham.  Too much was asked of him! His obedience in sacrificing his son has both inspired and horrified me. 
But today as I read this new perspective, I was invited to consider the reaction of Isaac to the situation. The son. The one who laid himself on the altar, having total trust in his father that this was God's will.  The father and the son, together in total obedience and submission to the will of God, came to know what it means to truly submit all they possessed on the altar of God. A story of real consecration. The willingness to give it all...and when you knelt at that altar in the temple with your husband, God expected the same of you...Not your son, but your soul, filled with humble submission. In exchange, God promises His eternal blessings upon you and your posterity, just as He promised to Abraham. 
The marriage connection to this is everyday. Everyday I can choose to kneel at that metaphorical altar and lay across it things I can sacrifice to bless my family, my posterity. There are so many opportunities...so many flocks of fatlings that I possess would make great offerings to the Lord. I just have to choose to dig deeper, trust in God and have faith that He knows what I don't. He will not let me ultimately fail, though I may stumble and falter in my marriage from time to time throughout my life.
I know that the sacrifices I make for God and for my marriage are as real as the man's who laid his son on an altar to show obedience, and as meaningful as the son's who was willing to die by his own father's hand to show his complete trust in the Lord. 
That is how important your marriage is to God. Obedience and trust are God's requisites for a consecrated life and in this moment, I see the altar before me, as if for the very first time. 
Love, 
Your Future Self

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Healthy Boundaries with Children

-
Image
  I have often found myself drawn to videos on social media of men and women playfully ranting about  some aspect of the difficulties of parenting. Honestly, who doesn’t love a witty, messy bun wearing,  exhausted mom, telling us “How it is”? This fresh and funny perspective  is relatable, and the sentiment  can be quite literally relieving because of  how phenomenally complex and challenging the realities of  raising children are. I mean, if we MUST go  through the daily rigors of parent life, we might as well  find  the humor in it, right? Although we pay homage to this type of parental comic relief with our likes and subscribes, we may be left feeling like the short clips of validation only carry us so far in terms of how we actually handle our own, very private difficult parenting situations. One element of frustration in child rearing that stands out to me is setting and keeping healthy boundaries. Boundaries with children are sup...
Read more

sex in marriage

-
Dear Younger Self,  I've been contemplating the sexual intimacy journey in my marriage and have come to learn that I'm definitely not the only one to struggle with feelings of purity and carnal desires. How do you reconcile it? What separates the two in marriage? Selflessness. When we are in a sexual relationship for the physical only, we are only taking and giving nothing in return.  I read a comment recently that beautifully describes the key, I think, to turning the sexual marriage experience into a sacred and pure one. The author said, "We tend to do for others what would make us happy if someone would do the same for us. And afterward we wonder why the other person isn’t happy. One great key to success in marriage is to find out what would make our spouse happy and then to find joy in providing that happiness."(Barlow, 1986) This is a wonderful description of how we can see the differences in our spouse more positively and having more to do with them, and ...
Read more

Married to My Friend

-
Dear Younger Self,  Your best friend needs you. You look up and sigh a huge, defeated sigh, but your shoulders feel heavier. You are feeling guilty because you let your mind wonder how you can give so much of yourself to this person even if he’s currently in a place where he cannot give back. “He won’t give back, even when he can”, you think to yourself. Guilt. Frustration. Stresssss…. I must stop you here and ask, Who is Dan to you? Is he, as a person, a friend to you? Do his worries cross your mind? Do you know what is currently happening in his day to day that causes him stress? Do you look for something under or around his unkind or snide comments that could be fueling his frustrations? Might they have absolutely nothing to do with you?  Do you think of him throughout the day in positive ways, or are you focusing on the one hurtful exchange from two days ago and replaying it over and over in your mind? You are giving power to your thoughts either way, so make sure t...
Read more