Motherhood: Sacrifice vs. Sacred
Photo by: Hubby
Written by : Beri Gebrehiwot
We often think of pregnancy and motherhood as a sacrifice, so it initially has a negative emotion associated with it. When we think of sacrifice, we think of a loss. A loss of our freedom and our time, our pre-pregnancy body, our lost career goals and our old social life to name a few. We say things like, “I sacrificed the best years of my life to raise kids; or I sacrificed my career so my husband and children could have my full support in their endeavors.”
According to Webster’s dictionary, Sacrifice is defined as “the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone.”
Let me share the real definition of sacrifice with you. Sacrifice, derived from the Latin words sacra (sacred) and facere (to make, to do). Also, from the Latin word Sacrifise, meaning “offering”.
The word sacrifice literally means “to make sacred.”
To make sacred. I love that. Changing our perspective of motherhood from sacrifice to sacred is powerful! Here’s why…
When we say we’ve sacrificed ourselves for something, we are focusing on loss AND assuming that that loss or sacrifice will result in an outcome of some sort.
For example, “I sacrificed my career so my husband can focus on his career while I focus on raising our children…” so I am expecting my sacrifice to pay off by resulting in hubby succeeding in his career and our children doing well (whatever that standard might be for you). When those are NOT the results we are seeing, we begin to look at our sacrifice as a true loss and become frustrated with our decisions or circumstances.
If our sacrifices are to truly be sacred- we have to remove ourselves from the perceived or expected outcomes. We have to surrender to our act/sacrifice and do it from a place of service and selflessness. There is GREAT joy in serving others selflessly. And that in itself is Sacred.
Listen, what you do everyday as a mother is SACRED. Don’t ever look at it as a mere sacrifice. It’s more powerful and divine. No matter the outcome, become joyful in your sacred acts.
xx.