I've been asked to study a talk from the April 2018 General Conference by Elder Taylor G. Godoy of the Seventy, called “One More Day,” and to let that inspire my remarks today. The focus of that talk was sacrifice, and I think this quote from Marion G. Romney, October 1982, fits the subject well. Considering that service is a form of sacrifice, just replace the word “Service” with “Sacrifice” and it’s perfect:
“Service [or, SACRIFICE] is not something we endure on this earth so we can earn the right to live in the celestial kingdom. Service [or, SACRIFICE] is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the celestial kingdom is made.”
As with all the things we endure and learn and go through and suffer — and enjoy! — in this life…it’s all a training ground for the eternal future we desire…and that future can’t be understood, or enjoyed, or be a proper part of our eternal progression if we don’t gain some important, relevant, experience here. How can we become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ if we don’t first have some experiences which are at least an analog to Their own experiences?
This concept reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite apostles…Elder Neal A. Maxwell. In April 1991, he said:
“How can you and I expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, ‘Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!’”
“The word sacrifice,” says Elder Godoy, “comes from the Latin words ‘sacer,’ which means ‘sacred,’ and ‘facere,’ which means ‘to make’ —in other words, to make things sacred, to bring honor to them.”
The hymn “Praise to the Man,” includes the line: “Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.”
One definition of sacrifice that I’ve quite liked is, “giving up something you want NOW for something greater you want LATER.” A trade-off, if you will, for those “blessings of heaven” alluded to in the hymn.
I think sacrifice has a generally negative connotation…that is, it’s HARD or BAD, or entails SUFFERING or WORK. While sacrifice is not intended to be easy, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to like it, or at least appreciate the blessings associated with it. Like anything that requires us to move from our comfort zone, we can, over time, choose to shift our comfort zone to better accommodate what we may consider difficult. What’s that? We can make sacrifice seem easy and fun, and love it? Well, maybe not exactly, but if you think about it, the concept is very familiar. Anything difficult that you’ve practiced and learned to do well, has moved your comfort zone…not the other way around.
President Heber J. Grant wisely stated:
“That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself has changed, but the power to do is increased.”
Thus, the more we sacrifice, the better we get at it…to the point that the relative ease helps us actually enjoy it more…usually by focusing on the blessings and, most importantly, on the LOVE we feel for those we sacrifice FOR. Because, unlike the ritual sacrifices of the Mosaic era which were for instruction and remembrance and obedience, the sacrifices we make today tend to be for the benefit of others (our own personal enrichment from the act notwithstanding).
Elder Godoy pointed out three ways that sacrifice can make our days meaningful and blessed:
First, personal sacrifice strengthens us and gives value to the things we sacrifice for.
Returning to my earlier definition of sacrifice, “giving up something you want NOW for something greater you want LATER,” I’m reminded of the marshmallow experiment. You may have read about it or seen some duplications of it on YouTube: the experimenter places a marshmallow in front of a child and tells them that if they can wait for a specified time before eating it, they will get an extra marshmallow. Those children who deferred gratification were found, through the longitudinal study, to have better life outcomes than those who lacked the self-restraint. So…sacrificing what we want now makes us stronger and healthier…especially in spiritual ways.
Second, sacrifices we make for others, and that others make for us, result in blessings for all.
Elder Godoy told the story of how his mother sold her family heirloom jewelry to pay for his dental school surgical supplies…and how that loving act motivated him to be an even better student.
Third, any sacrifice we make is small compared to the sacrifice of the Son of God.
Certainly, any time we are called upon to sacrifice something in our lives (be it time, talents, or treasure — or physical, emotional, or psychological comfort —for example, having to give a talk in sacrament!) —it helps to remember how much our Savior Jesus Christ sacrificed for us. He describes that sacrifice in heart-rending terms in Doctrine and Covenants 19:18:
“Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit —and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink —”
When we think of that, surely we can realize that our sacrifices, even though they may seem hard to us, are achievable, and will redound to our own eternal benefit when we do succeed with them.
As I mentioned, Elder Godoy’s talk on sacrifice was called “One More Day.” He placed sacrifice in the context of making the most of our days, since they are, of course, numbered. How would you choose to live if you knew you only had one more day to live? Whether it’s a day, a year, or another 80 years, life is, in the eternal perspective, very short…and we would do well to expend some daily effort sacrificing for others, and for the building up of His kingdom. It will bless others, it will bless ourselves, and it will better prepare us for the glorious future that awaits in the celestial kingdom, where we’ll continue to perform acts of love and grow closer to one another and to Heavenly Father.
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