Like A Rock

We just got back from Kauai where we were on vacation for a couple of weeks and have to say my wife and I had the best time ever. The weather was gorgeous every single day and the beautifully decorated house we rented on the Makai Golf Course was super comfortable and fun…and maybe the best part was that we got to spend every day together, 24/7, having fun and enjoying our 20 year anniversary and “second honeymoon”.

Back home I am normally up at 5:00am every day getting a head start on my workday while my wife sleeps in a few more hours. But while we were on vacation I made it a point to stay in bed every morning so I could wake up next to a woman who deserves every ounce of attention I can give her. We got used to waking up together quite late in the morning, and sometimes we even stayed in bed and watched movies until noon. It was so fun and so relaxing compared to our normally crazy and hectic lifestyles. You know what they say in Hawaii, “Go Slower….no…More Slower!” (I saw that written on a sign near our house.)

We came back to the mainland on the “Redeye Flight” on Friday. We timed it so that even though we were back home we would still have a couple of days to transition from vacation mode to work mode. When Sunday morning came, my normal routine would have been to get up early, write a Monday Message, go to church, and then play in a Sunday Halo Baseball Game. However, this Sunday I felt like I needed to do things differently. Technically it was our last day of vacation so I decided I would stay in bed until she woke up so she would still feel like we were on vacation. Well, I woke up at 8:12 and was pretty proud of myself for sleeping in that late. As I laid there really quiet and still so I wouldn’t wake up my wife, I figured it probably wouldn’t be much longer (although she was sleeping like a rock). I started thinking about work and then transitioned my thoughts back to our vacation, which was much more pleasant. It got to be 8:30am and I figured she would be awake soon, so I remained really still so as not to disturb her. Before long it was 9:00am. I tried to keep my mind busy but by 9:30am I began to wonder if she was ever going to wake up. By 10:30 I had exhausted all the memories of our vacation and it was a real struggle just to keep still. Finally at 11:10am, I can happily report….she finally woke up!

I remember reading a passage recently in my Max Lucado Study Bible about how much easier it is for us to sacrifice for someone else, if we simply remember the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Now I’m not saying that having to lie in bed with a beautiful woman is any kind of sacrifice, but it was kind of tough to lay completely still for over 3 hours and not accidentally wake her up. I was just trying to do something nice and I didn’t expect anything in return, but on Sunday evening when I came home from my baseball game, I received a very special reward. She gave me a rock as a thank you gift, engraved with some very touching words. All I can say is, “When you make a sacrifice for someone you love, it never, ever ends up feeling bad.”

Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be.

It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.

~ Mitch Albom, The Five People you Meet in Heaven