Sacrifice

I read a very different interpretation of what it is to sacrifice something.

Sacrifice= resisting smaller and easier sources of immediate gratification knowing that we are working towards a greater goal.

Wow. This blew me away. So simple, yet so very powerful. So often we think in terms of deprivation when it comes to sacrifice. We think of what we cannot eat and feel deprived and angry that we don't eat it. In relationships, we may desire to be right in a situation and lose sight of the greater goal of a lasting and loving relationship. This is also true for any goal we have identified as something we want to achieve. We can not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of settling for smaller and easy sources of immediate gratification and risk our accomplishing our larger goal.

Setting our sights on the big picture rather than on something directly in front of us is difficult. It is always worth the time and energy to move towards the bigger prize and develop positive self esteem and self control in the process.