“What if the deeply satisfying life was found in the givenness of sacrifice — to something of significance — through the spirit?”- Ann Voskamp
As Ann Voskamp concludes Chapter 6 of The Broken Way, she stresses the futility of depending on circumstances. She notes:
“No change in circumstances can change your life like meaning and purpose can. No certain place can give you abundant life like a certain purpose . . .”
Therefore, as those who’ve come through the fire of adversity attest, life’s about purpose and passion and meaning. Experiencing giving yourself (emphasis Ann’s) fills your bucket much more than experiencing the whole world.
In addition, Ann states, “meaning comes from emptying ourselves out,” rather than desperately trying to fill ourselves up with meaning. As a result, Ms. Voskamp underscores:
” . . . the abundant life doesn’t have a bucket list as much as it has an empty bucket- the givenness of pouring out.”
Furthermore, Ann encourages us to live for something worth dying for. She continues:
“Let love break into you and mess with you and loosen you up and make you laugh and cry and give and hurt because that is the only way to really live. Bucket list or not, don’t waste a minute of your life on anything less. Don’t waste a minute on anything less than what lasts for all eternity. . . . Think of eternity, and live backward from that.”
Failure to care for others = failure to care for yourself. Ultimately, dying to self gives life.
Today’s question: How have you found the deeply satisfying life in the givenness of sacrifice? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Letting yourself be loved”
