Sabbath Devotional :: Thoughts on Sacrifice and Consecration

*The Bible Panorama*, or *The Holy Scriptures* in picture and story (1891) via Wikimedia Commons

As my son prepares to leave on a mission soon, I find myself thinking a lot about sacrifice. After my own mission, I taught at the MTC for a couple of years. In one of my districts was an elder who was an outstanding college-level athlete. Considering his goal to be a professional athlete was actually achievable, sacrificing two years in the prime of his life was a very big deal. He got a lot of attention at the MTC, there was an article about him in the New Era, and after his mission, he spoke at firesides about his choice and experiences.

He was a big deal. And he was a good missionary.

One day, while my class was quietly studying their scriptures, I glanced around at them. There was an elder in the class who literally carried a picture of his truck in his wallet because he loved his truck. There was an elder who had left behind a girlfriend. There was one who had probably given up video games to serve a mission. As I was looking at them, the spirit whispered to me that even though their sacrifices didn’t all make Big Deal stories, they were all acknowledged and acceptable in the eyes of God.

It was a powerful lesson.

In the days of Christ, a poor widow donated two mites to the temple treasury. Her small donation was fully accepted by the Lord, who recognized the tremendous sacrifice. Elder Uchtdorf said, “To the Lord, the value of the donation was measured not by the effect it had on the treasury but by the effect it had on the heart of the donor.” It doesn’t matter to Christ how the world views our sacrifices or whether they get a lot attention.

“For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

As a young mother with four children aged six and under, there was a time when I felt like all I did was laundry and dishes. This was not actually true, but some days, it felt true. Dishes and laundry. Laundry and dishes. I decided that if those were to be the defining activities of that stage of my life, then I would be excellent at laundry and dishes. I have never achieved excellence at dishes (or anything kitchen-related), but I have been excellent at laundry. I developed a routine that worked for me and for many years, I was almost never behind on my laundry. I have always enjoyed folding clothes and I am good at it. My piles of folded laundry are a thing of beauty.

Late one night as I was folding piles of clothes, I felt an impression from the spirit telling me that the service I was rendering to my family was as acceptable and as important as anything I had done as a full-time missionary.

I admit (and I don’t think I’m alone) that I have sometimes grumbled at the laundry and often grumbled at the dishes. But at that time in my life, my heart was filled with a desire to serve the Lord through serving my family and I felt His approval of a small, mundane task.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’”

Elder Uchtdorf spoke about sacrifice and consecration recently. He said seeking the kingdom of God “requires letting some things go and letting other things grow.”

“To sacrifice means to give something up in favor of something more valuable.”

“When we consecrate something, we don’t leave it to be consumed upon the altar. Rather, we put it to use in the Lord’s service. We dedicate it to Him and His holy purposes.”

I think back to the young elder, the athlete, who was willing to sacrifice his future career to serve a mission. I contacted him more than a decade after he served his mission. I asked him about his time as a professional athlete. He didn’t talk about money, honors, or attention. He spoke to me about the way his career had provided missionary opportunities for him and his family. From my perspective, his sacrifice had evolved into a consecrated life.

I thought about the other elders and their sacrifices. To consecrate something, we put it to use in the Lord’s service. Everyone chuckles when they hear that I taught an elder who loved his truck. I know that leaving it behind was a real sacrifice for him. I don’t remember his name, but I believe he could have consecrated that truck to service, like the men from our ward in Utah who volunteered their own vehicles and their own time to help my family move to New York. It’s been more than ten years and I still tear up every time I remember a ward member casually asking my husband if he’d like to borrow his truck to drive more than 4000 miles (round trip). And the man standing nearby who chimed in, “I have vacation time I could use to drive the truck.”

Most of my children are adults or teenagers who do their own laundry and deep in my heart I believe they are capable of doing dishes. My life is no longer defined by household chores. As my grandma would quote, “To every thing there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). At this season of my life, even though my adult children continue to take a lot of time and energy, I find that I am able explore new ways to serve. Besides my continued church and family service, I volunteer with MWEG. I recently joined the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and my city’s planning commission. If I do these things with “an eye single to the glory of God,” I believe that the time and energy I sacrifice can lead me to a consecrated life.

The lesson I have learned and keep learning is that it is not my place to judge someone else’s efforts or sacrifice. The Lord knows their heart. On the other hand, I don’t need to worry if I measure up to someone else’s expectations of service or sacrifice. If I keep my focus on Him, God will use the life I’ve chosen to help me grow to the person He knows I can be.