Petty Sacrifices

Ben urged me to take a Sunday morning off this month, and so I am home on the couch with a cup of tea (Rooibos, from Cape Town) and reading a book by Elisabeth Elliot.

As a general rule, I find myself strengthened and helped by anything I read which she has written.

This quote struck me:

Manners, said Emerson, are made up of peggy sacrifices. "Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage" (1 Cor. 13:5, Phillips).

A simple gesture like passing the butter plate to someone else before helping oneself is the outward expression, small and unobtrusive but deeply telling, of the sacrificial principle, "My life for yours." (The Shaping of a Christian Family, p. 171)

I do want my life flavored by that kind of small "others before myself" moments. Lord help me.