Sacrifice

The Lord has been teaching me a lot lately...about sacrifice. As a wife and mother this is not hard to experience. Ask anyone. However, I have grappled with just what it means, why I do it, and my own selfishness in it more recently than at any other point in our almost 5 1/2 years of marriage.
Sacrifice is hard. It's not easy. True sacrifice is rarely seen other than by the person doing it and our Heavenly Father. In it's truest form, it is not praised or recognized here in this fallen world. And that is what I have grappled with...what is true sacrifice? This is what the Lord has shown me...
True sacrifice comes from a pure heart. It does not seek recognition or a return. True sacrifice lays down itself for another whether the other deserves it or not. It knows what is eternal, as opposed to temporal, and seeks that over worldly, earthly treasure which is certain to burn up.
As a mother I have to get up earlier than I would like at times, lay aside things which I would like to do for the sake of my children, forsake "leisure time" (or at least redefine it), and make very hard and sometimes unexplainable (to others) decisions. There are times when I just want to clean up by myself to get it done quickly but then I am reminded by the Holy Spirit that now is the time to include those little hands to show them the joys of homemaking. There are times when it's not convenient to train them because I'm "busy" but what is more important than to mold their character? It is not easy but my decisions have eternal ramifications. Why do I have to sacrifice my time and what I want to do? The answer was spoken to my heart very tenderly but with great conviction...

"Because I am making you into the image of my Son."

What greater example do we have of sacrifice than Jesus? He laid down his life for those who spat on Him, beat Him, gossiped about Him, hated Him, misunderstood Him as much as He did for those who loved Him. He still does.
I have learned that even if I do sacrifice myself for something else the Lord only smiles on it when it is with a pure heart. A heart that looks on the outside to be "laying down its life" but on the inside is saying, "I hope this is appreciated" or "Look what I am doing" or "This isn't fair but I'll do it anyway" is the very epitome of hypocrisy. A pure heart is motivated by love for the Father that overflows and a desire for God's glory alone.

"Lord, may you put anything and everything in my path that would allow me to truly know the depth of this purity and sacrifice. Allow my heart to be changed and to grow evermore to resemble your Son."