Is the Concept of "Sacrifice" a Dialectic?

This post was originally published on October 14, 2022 on my old blog that is no longer notifying followers that I've posted. Here is the link to the old blog....but don't post to that one.  Please follow this new blog.  THANKS!        https://karenthoms.blogspot.com/

Our church is reading Bill Mowry's book Walk With Me.  Last night we met to discuss chapter 1.  Don and I presented differing ideas about sacrifice.  His was - when you do things for people you love it isn't a sacrifice.  Mine was - doing things for people takes time and energy and therefore it is a sacrifice.  Maybe it is both?

Don and I really like our "me" time.  We both have lots of interests.  I don't know the right word for it but we are kind of loners/introverts/selfish with our time.  Soon I will write a blog about "love" but for now let's just stick to sacrifice.  

The longer I am a Christian the more I am changing to be less like the world.  As that happens it becomes a new normal and what may have felt like a sacrifice decades ago no longer feels like a sacrifice.  

On the other hand, each day holds an opportunity to watch and listen for the moving of God in my life.  And many days I am so absorbed in my own schedule and thoughts I miss it.  I miss an opportunity to give of myself for another person.  

How can I live more in the present with God in order to hear and see where he is leading me?  I love God and I want to have more of Him and less of me.  

For me that means I have to give away what I value most:  being understood, my time, my energy, my money to name a few.  For me, this is a daily sacrifice.  For me, if I waited to "love people" my circle of care would probably be very small.

I'm just thinking out loud on paper this morning.  What can you add?