“Too Long a Sacrifice…

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.”   William Butler Yeats

This is a quote that I came across on another blog that I read.  Everyday Kris begins his blog with a quote and this one really resonated with me.  I wrote it down and have been reading it daily for quite some time.  I’m glad I did, because what it means to me now is not what it meant to me in the beginning.  I haven’t read the poem that it is taken from and I’m not sure I will because I find I like what it has become for me.

When I first read this I felt vindicated in how I had been feeling.  Some days the path I’ve chosen is hard to walk and comes with very little thanks. I have sometimes felt that my heart was hardening and growing heavy from all my “sacrifice”.  How could I have turned my and my family’s life upside down to do what I felt was the right thing only to continually be left feeling unappreciated and abused?

But as I read and reread this line everyday, God began working on my heart.  Little seeds were being planted and ideas were putting roots in my mind.  Thoughts were beginning to unfurl like the buds in my garden and I was moved from my winter of despair to my spring of understanding. 

My difficulty had been that I was looking at my “sacrifice”…I was looking out from my ego.  When I finally came to understand that I needed to shift my thinking from sacrifice to gift, from being used to giving, my heart lightened.  This all seems too simplistic when actually put into words and it was a hard and difficult process, but I am so happy that my mind and heart have made that change.

Yes, too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. So it’s better to learn to give lovingly, willingly and generously  rather than sacrifice…then your heart can soar.