By Deacon Wayne Charlton, Chaplain at Michigan Medicine

Sacrifice is the randomly selected Virtues Card for today (see below). I shook my phone, read it and then said how appropriate for these days. We keep hearing “we are all in this together” but because of isolation and physical distancing the being “together” is so much different than anything we’ve ever experienced. For sure, though, we are in this together as far as the need to sacrifice. Everyone is making some sort of sacrifice in order to protect themselves and loved ones. “When we sacrifice for those we care about, it is not a deprivation but a love offering.”

In recent days, I’ve talked to many patients who are making sacrifices and although may be initially difficult to do, I’m hearing more acceptance…not resignation… but authentic acceptance that, at least for now, this is what needs to be done. They not only talk about their own sacrifices but the sacrifices others are making in order to keep them (the patient) protected. In other words they recognize “the love offering.”

This reminded me of a sign I saw many years ago, while approaching a highway construction zone, which stated: “Temporary inconvenience for Permanent Improvement.” My hope is that the “temporary inconvenience” (sacrifices) we are making now will lead to a permanent improvement in our world.

If you share this hope, maybe it would be a good idea, with the help of the attached card, to acknowledge the sacrifices you are currently making and along with that imagine what that permanent improvement might look like… and what concrete steps you could take to make this a lasting reality.

Please be good to yourself and stay well.