Sacrifice

Today is Ash Wednesday and thus begins the season of Lent. I started giving things up for Lent in high school and have found it a great way to focus in on Easter's coming. So, this year I am giving up soda. Yes, soda. I really like soda. I often crave it. And I've somehow managed to lie to myself and half-way believe that Diet Coke is almost healthy. I don't know what it is, but if I know I have a long afternoon ahead of me at work, a Diet Coke somehow makes it better (that may have something to do with the 5-year old who I get to talk to at the bakery where I buy my Diet Coke - she's just so cute!).

Belem's mom works at the bakery across the street from Mayan Families.  Belem was one of our first friends after moving to Panajachel. We didn't have a kitchen so we would eat sandwiches at the bakery a lot, and Belem would come and color with us and teach us Spanish words for muffin and doughnut.

So, anyway...I'm going without it for 40 days. Some of you may remember that I have tried this in the past. Two different years I have tried to give up soda for Lent. Both times I have failed. But here's to getting back on the horse and trying again. I've decided to post it here so you can all keep me accountable - there's no going back now. Bring on the headaches!

All joking aside, I did choose soda because I really do want a challenge. Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel that our lives are almost too challenge-free? Do you ever see so many things going on around you that you realize you have no way to understand their suffering because you've never been challenged in that way before? You've never sacrificed the way they sacrifice every day?

Crecencia lost her husband to diabetes and four children in a truck crash. She then lost her home because she couldn't pay her husband's medical debt. She had to move in with her sister and family. She was recently diagnosed with cancer and although American doctors operated on her in February, they only give her 3 months to live. 

Last year when we were living in the States, we would talk about our ways of giving. We would come up with different ways that we wanted to give to people we knew were struggling or give back to our community. And then we would write a check or make a donation and go on. I found it almost too easy. I know that may not make any sense, but I wanted to suffer, to sacrifice, to give until it hurt. And, the truth is, we had enough financial cushion that we could give and it not even affect our lifestyle. And that kind of scared me. It kind of made me think that we should be giving more. Giving until it hurt. So I would go on these journeys where I would try to sacrifice something, such as Starbucks, and give that money away. But in the end, it didn't really hurt that bad anyway.

I am very thankful for the many blessings that God has given us. I don't ever want to get in this comfortable phase of life where I'm not challenged or where I'm not willing to give up ______ (insert anything here) in order to serve God and His people more fully. I want to live in a community where I know the needs around me and I respond with God's guidance, no matter how much it may hurt.

So, here's to being up for more challenges. Here's to giving beyond my comfort zone. Here's to finding the beauty that lies in sacrifice.