Sacrificial Love

In our small group, we've been reading about being Godly parents, and using the Gospel as our guide for child-rearing. The second-to-last chapter discussed the importance of loving sacrificially, and the timing of it couldn't have been better. 

Loving sacrificially (as Christ did for us) entails giving up some things for the benefit of our children. The chapter focused on great sacrifices we might make such as a career move or a luxurious vacation, but I immediately thought of the little sacrifices that I must be willing to make daily. See, I'm okay with the larger ones (though at times I do wish we didn't have to stick to a budget and could just purchase this or that without saving for it), but it's the daily smaller instances that really challenge me. 

And this past Sunday was the perfect reminder of said sacrifices that I'm called to make. Scrapbooking is my creative outlet, my re-charge and decompress time. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts at working on it weekly, since Hunter's arrival, I haven't had the luxury of maintaining the albums. If I can't get to it during the week, I do try to work on it on Sundays, and so I had planned to do so the other day. Silly me. 

We had just put the kids down for their naps, and I myself was a bit sleepy, so I decided to lie down for a bit (go figure that I never should have in the first place because I couldn't sleep anyway) with the intent of working on my album afterward. (I should have known.) Upon "waking", Hunter woke up, and wanted to eat. ("What?! He didn't sleep long enough!" I thought.) So, I fed him, played with him, then put him back down.... only to get Leah up from her nap. (Where was Scott? I had already given him permission to go for a motorcycle ride after my nap.) 

Yesterday, though I hadn't planned on scrapbooking, was a repeat of Sunday when it came to quiet time for me. There wasn't any. It's as if God really wanted to hammer home this point about making sacrifices as a parent. 

Now I know that giving up a hobby or some quiet time isn't easy or ideal, and in fact, I truly think that all parents NEED some downtime on a regular basis so that we can be better parents. However, we are called to die to ourselves (make sacrifices) so that our children might live. In this case, I need to give up that downtime (on occasion), so that my children's needs are met. When I really stop to offer them what they need (an extra cuddle, a snack, etc.), then my love for them is stoked, allowing me to love them even more.