True love is selfless. It is prepared to sacrifice. - Sadhu Vaswani
Love is not a feeling of happiness. Love is a willingness to sacrifice. - Michael Novak
This blog post is a slight departure from my typical blog style and content. There is, as always, a method to my madness …..
On a hot summer evening in Calgary, Alberta, Sam and his wife prepared for bed. They had been having conversations earlier about her struggles living in small towns in Western Canada, the difficulty growing up with few real friends and the emotional scars left from wounds long since inflicted during an oftentimes difficult childhood.
Sam paused for a moment before looking into her eyes and saying “If someone could invent a way where I could go back in time and take those hurts from you, I would do it. I would do anything and sacrifice anything to change your past and give you a better future, even if it meant losing you in the process.”
His wife looked at him and her eyes misted over. “That is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me”, she said, “Now you see why I tell you so many times how blessed I am by your love.”
They hugged for a moment, kissed and then Sam turned out the lights. He looked over sleepily at the clock radio and made sure that it was set to turn on his favorite Calgary radio station at 7am. Moments later, sleep overtook him.
Or he thought it had. He suddenly awoke with a start in a room that he didn’t recognize with three figures standing before him. “It’s ok”, the tallest of the three assured him, “You are safe and will not be harmed.”
“Where am I?”, asked Sam, “Am I awake or dreaming?”
“How do you differentiate between the two ordinarily?”, asked the same figure as he smiled oddly.
“Why, I’m not sure what you mean”, stammered Sam, “I ….”
The tall figure held up his right hand and interrupted him. “We understand that you expressed a strong desire to help your wife release her difficult past. Is that so?”, he asked.
“How do you know that”, asked Sam suspiciously, his sense of alertness returning as the fog of sleep lifted from his brain.
“That is of no concern to you”, replied the figure as his colleagues took up positions behind Sam.
“What I offer you”, continued the figure, “is the ability to make your wife’s pain go away. Her Life will become the very Life you desire for her. You indicated that you would do anything to make this happen. Do you still feel this way? Are you willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means that you create a different past and thus likely a different present for both of you? After all, changing the past oftentimes produces unpredictable results.”
“I would do anything”, replied Sam. “I would do anything to release her from the demons from her past that have tormented her so that we can create a new future together without the weight of that past.”
“As I said”, continued the figure, “There are no guarantees regarding what is produced in her present when we change her past. However, we can assure you that her demons will be erased from her past just as you requested. Is that what you wish?”
Sam suddenly felt afraid but even as he felt his fear of these men growing, he found himself nodding his head silently.
“Even if it changes your present in ways that cannot be predicted?”, asked the figure forcefully as he leaned in and looked into Sam’s eyes intently.
Sam swallowed hard and heard himself say “Yes” quietly.
“Very well”, said the figure. Nodding to his colleagues, he looked Sam in the eye again and said “We shall proceed”.
The room was suddenly filled with a blinding light ….
…. and Sam found himself blinking at the sunlight pouring in through his bedroom window as the radio suddenly came on at the preappointed 7am.
Rubbing his eyes blearily and shaking his head as he replayed in his mind the craziest of dreams, he suddenly frowned as he listened to the voice on the radio.
You are listening to WNYC in New York. The forecast for New York City today will be …..
“New York?”, he thought. “What the heck’s going on here?”
Rolling over to ask his wife, he suddenly stopped cold in utter confusion.
This wasn’t his normal bed.
And he was alone in it.
This story came to mind today as I discussed with someone the importance of sacrifice for others and most specifically:
When we say we would do anything for someone or something, do we really mean it?
Are we prepared for what the Universe might deliver in answering such a pledge?
Do we understand the ramifications of what such a statement could produce if someone could make it come true?
The Bottom Line
When you say you would do anything in order for your business, your relationships or your Life to produce the results that you desire, do you really mean it?
How badly do you want the same to come true for others who are important to you?
Are you sure?
How do you know?
What are you waiting for?
In service and servanthood,
Harry
Mar 13:9-11 But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.
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