Sacrificial Love

"What suffers so long and so much as love? What bears so much; what else imposes such heavy burdens? What way is so bleak and steep and rugged as that way out into the wilderness and up the mountainside on which love takes the shepherd in search of his lost sheep?" - these questions from columnist John R. Gunn; and he continues, "Someone has said, 'If a man would live at ease, let him beware of love. If he love a country, it may call him suddenly to hardship and death; if he love art, it will set him heartbreaking lessons of trial and self-surrender; if he love truth, it will call him to part company with his friends; if he love men, their sorrows will sit by his fire and shadow its brightness; if he love some other soul as the life of his life, he must put his happiness at the hazard of everyday's chances of life and death. Love is a more terrible master than law and they who follow must stand ready to strip themselves of all lesser possessions.'

But there's still another side - a young girl leaves a home of luxury to go far away to a new and strange community to make a home for the young man she has married. This seems like a great sacrifice, yet because of her love for the young man, she does not think it is a sacrifice at all. The burdens love imposes may be heavy, but love makes them seem light. Life's supreme happiness is found in suffering and bearing burdens for the sake of those we love and the causes to which we are devoted. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."