August 28: Go On Without Me, Sacrifice, Eat Chocolate All Day

Billy, knowing the plane was going to crash pretty soon, closed his eyes, traveled in time back to 1944.  He was back in the forest of Luxembourg again--with the Three Musketeers.  Roland Weary was shaking him, bonking his head against a tree.  "You guys go on without me," said Billy Pilgrim.

Billy is trying to make a sacrifice.  He knows that he will slow his companions down as they try to elude German soldiers.  Possibly cause them to be captured.  So he tells them to leave him behind.  Perhaps he's not worried because he's already jumped in time.  He knows that he will survive.

I apologize for my absence yesterday.  I spent the day cleaning out a portion of my attic and then hosting my book club.  I had to sacrifice something.  That something happened to be writing a blog post.  Granted, my sacrifice didn't save anybody's life or change the world in any way.  It simply preserved my sanity.

I think that most people's days are filled with sacrifices.  Every morning when my alarm goes off, I force myself to get out of bed and go to work.  I'm never excited about it.  I just do it for my family.  It helps me provide for my wife and children.  This week, the fall semester begins at the university.  On Wednesday, I'll be teaching composition to a group of freshmen from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.  Not excited about that, either.  But I do it for my family.

I want to eat chocolate all day long.  I don't.  Sacrifice to my health.  When I got home from work this afternoon, I just wanted to take a nap for about ten hours.  I didn't.  I drove my daughter to school for band camp.  Sacrifice.  Tonight, I'm going to do a load of laundry.  Possibly do some prep for teaching.  Work on a poem for a couple I know who's getting married this weekend.  Sacrifice.  Sacrifice.  Sacrifice.

Sacrifice sometimes is difficult.  Ask Jesus.  And sometimes sacrifice is easy.  Ask any mother or father.

Tonight, Saint Marty is thankful for the sacrifices his parents made for him.