Sacrifice?

I have a friend named Heather. I have never met her face to face. We have many of the same friends, are the same age, got married around the same time, and she has three little ones also.

Heather recently blogged about something that spoke to me. Feel free to check it out, I am sure many of you moms will relate.

It was all about perspective. I am the first to admit that my life can get very small. I do what I have to do to get from day to day. There is a never ending list of things to do, and not a whole lot of time for anything else. BUT when I do stop, my mind invariably goes to the pile of laundry that never got folded, or I start worrying about bills, or I wish I had more girlfriends I could call to have a coffee date. The more I think about those things the more I become dissatisfied with my life.

Heather challenged herself to make a new list. One with a change in perspective.

I love that idea.

There are many times when I miss our life in SC. We had a sweet little house with a great little back yard. We had a group of friends with young kids that did things together. I had girlfriends to have bible study and coffee with.

This morning I read another blog that gave me a NEW perspective.

John Piper's blog today was on David Livingstone.

Here is what Livingstone said to the Cambridge students about his “leaving” the benefits of England:

For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. . . . Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.

I know that it is just plain silly to compare being in Africa in the 1800's to being in Philly in 2010, but bear with me.

When I adjust my point of view and look at all that the Lord has done (and is still doing) here in Philly, I can honestly say that all the things I wish for are NOTHING in comparison. Sacrifice? What sacrifice??

I am blessed beyond belief.