Music for Football
The peaches are ready to pick! Our ward filled the peach picking assignment for our two orchard rows. I hear not many folks showed up to help, another ward with a multitude chipped in and helped us finish the task. Picking peaches is an itchy experience, it’s not our favorite task. I reminded the girls that their work will help feed those in need all over the world. I felt like a hypocrite, stayed home to work on editing Dariana’s photos.
Amelia worked until 10 pm a few nights this week at Del Taco. Life feels emptier without her enthusiasm around the house. Gosh diggity darn it. Only two more weeks until we take her to college. Justin ordered me a new laptop this week, it’s pretty and more powerful than my current version. It will take me those couple of weeks left to wipe the laptop clean and set up the new one.
Thursday evening Columbia hosted the Cat Blast, basically a family oriented assembly in front of the school. The arts, sports, teams, and clubs have a chance to recruit students to their classes. Adrianna Sene texted me on Monday asking if I would spear head the creation of a choir booster club. My hands went up in a very strong “NO.” I can help but I cannot add another thing to my burgeoning platter (it is no longer a plate). At the meeting Jana Izatt hopped up as another parent Adrianna called on to help, so I went up for moral support to help Jana. I just can’t be president, maybe uniform chairperson since I am already tailoring the choir uniforms.
Friday was a very busy day with grocery shopping. Phillip and Evelyn celebrate birthday next week so getting special ingredients for their mom-made meal required multiple stores. Josie and I went to Target to get Phillip a few gifts. Boy did we have a fun time. Josie found a Lion King shirt with Scar saying, “I’m surrounded by idiots.” She laughed so hard her face turned red, that went into the cart. Chuck. We had so much fun I was late getting home, late getting Phillip to the HS for marching band, late arriving to sell cotton candy at the football game. It’s a challenge when Amelia has the only other vehicle. Justin, Josie and I helped sell cotton candy for a couple of hours. We got to watch part of the Marching band show, Bionic, during half time. We went home right after that. Phillip was out late with band nerds at Wendy’s until 11 pm. Everett got in trouble, he stayed home because selling cotton candy was not “fun” enough. I told him NOT to watch TV or play on devices. Amelia caught him watching TV once she got home from work. He stopped listening after the devices part and ignored the rest of my message. He helped me with some hard labor cutting down branches from a tree in the front yard and weeding out dead flowers from the front bed as well.
It was our turn to clean the church, felt like we needed fresh doughnuts afterward. Done. Delicious. Fergus got a much needed grooming session. We are getting better at the Scottish terrier cut, it’s a bit of a challenge. I snipped my finger at one point, was bleeding everywhere. Then tried to trim Fergus’ claws, he moved his paw at just the wrong time and earned a bleeding claw, geesh there was blood everywhere from my cut to his snipped nail. He snipped at everyone for a few hours, even tried to eat Wally after a couple hours. We spent the evening visiting with Paula, Steven (her son), the Ostlers, and the Freemans. Paula hosts a neighborhood get together in august or September just to bring everyone together. We enjoyed taco salads while visiting with everyone.
Justin and I were asked to speak in church on Sunday just 4 days beforehand on sacrifice. Justin asked what I was going to talk about, I replied, “I’ll probably just spout some stuff off like I usually do.” The next day I was showering off after selling cotton candy, Justin left some notes on the shower door: Joy in Sacrifice. I contemplated telling him that I was speaking on the same topic hoping he would say, “Wow! Me too! That must be the Holy Ghost.” Nope, it was the shower door. I ended up just telling him because I was excited about the story. Here is the talk I spouted off:
Sacrifice. The word alone brings images of great loss, hardship, nearly a negative connotation. In our English dictionary the word sacrifice is defined as: an act of offering to deity something precious, destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else. There must be something to learn and understand about sacrifice! Adam and Eve were commanded to offer sacrifices once they left the garden of Eden. Why? Why must we sacrifice?
Dr Eitan Bar, an Israeli-Jewish Christian taught that in the ancient Jewish culture sacrifice had a completely different connotation. It was not about destruction. It was about connection. The Hebrew word for sacrifice is QORBAN. It shares a root with the word QAROV, which means “near,” “close,” “intimate.” In other words, a QORBAN is not about death. It is about coming near.
In biblical Hebrew, the root Q-R-B forms words for warmth, proximity, nearness, and kinship. If someone is your relative, they are your QAROV—your close one. And if you want to draw near to God, you bring a QORBAN—a gift of nearness. Sacrifice, in the biblical sense, is not about punishment. It’s about relationship. It is about removing barriers and restoring closeness.
Think of the sacrifices you’ve made in life—not religious ones, but real, human ones. When have you given something up for the sake of someone you loved? When have you surrendered time, comfort, pride, or possessions to bless another? You weren’t punishing yourself or trying to pay a cosmic debt. You were expressing love. You were drawing near.
A mother who wakes in the night to tend to a crying child. A friend who donates a kidney. A soldier who shields a comrade. These are acts of QORBAN. They cost something—but their goal is intimacy, protection, and love. The gift is not the pain. The gift is the nearness.
This was the heart behind the sacrificial system in Israel. To draw near to God, one brought something valuable—grain, oil, wine, livestock. Not to feed God. Not to pacify an angry God. But to express devotion. To enact closeness. The blood, the fire, the aroma—these were not violence for its own sake. They were symbols of surrender. Of approach. Of relational restoration.
Let’s take what Dr Bar taught us about sacrifice being a relational restoration and look at Christ through that lens. Sacrifice is an ordinance, yes we still have the law of sacrifice! It once included sacrifice of grain, wine, the most precious animals, then the best parts of gold, and today the sacrament and our time, talents, and devotion. The method of sacrifice has changed throughout millenia, the purpose has not changed. The ordinance was given to remind the people that Jesus Christ, the Firstborn of the Father, would come into the world. He would be perfect in every way, and He would offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins (gospel principles).
The Apostle Paul wrote that we should become living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God (see Romans 12:1). If we are to be a living sacrifice, we must be willing to give everything we have for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—to build the kingdom of God on the earth and labor to bring forth Zion (see 1 Nephi 13:37).
A rich young ruler asked the Savior, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.” And the rich man said, “All these have I kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, He said, “Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he was sorrowful. He was very rich and had his heart set on his riches. The young ruler was a good man. But when he was put to the test, he was not willing to sacrifice his worldly possessions. He lost the “gift of nearness” that sacrifice brings. On the other hand, the Lord’s disciples Peter and Andrew were willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of the kingdom of God. When Jesus said unto them, “Follow me, … they straightway left their nets, and followed him” (Matthew 4:19–20).
Like the disciples, we can offer our daily activities as a sacrifice to the Lord. We can say, “Thy will be done.” Abraham did this. He lived on the earth before Christ, in the days when sacrifices and burnt offerings were required. As a test of Abraham’s faith, the Lord commanded him to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sarah. The command to offer him as a sacrifice was extremely painful for Abraham.
Nevertheless, he and Isaac made the long journey to Mount Moriah, where the sacrifice was to be made. They traveled for three days. Imagine Abraham’s thoughts and his heartache. His son was to be sacrificed to the Lord. When they reached Mount Moriah, Isaac carried the wood and Abraham carried the fire and the knife to the place where they were to build the altar. Isaac said, “My father … behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb.” Then Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. He bound Isaac and laid him upon the wood. He then took the knife to kill Isaac. At that moment an angel of the Lord stopped him, saying, “Abraham … lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.” (See Genesis 22:1–14.)
Abraham must have been overcome with joy when he was no longer required to sacrifice his son. But he loved the Lord so much that he was willing to do anything the Lord asked. Ponder with me, ponder on Abraham’s experience. He was asked to live and experience the Plan of Salvation in a way few are asked to sacrifice. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his beloved son. Do you think Abraham was approaching the altar with QORBAN in his heart? Was he coming to the altar with an attitude of seeking nearness with God? I can imagine Abraham looking at his son as I see my own children, determined to be obedient but loving that child so much my faith was running to heaven. Abraham stepped directly to the task and was moments away from completing the sacrificial task God asked of him. He did not see another way. God at that moment measured Abraham’s heart and found him so near that the sacrifice became complete and a scapegoat provided in the form of a Ram. The Ram that signified our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe Abraham was as humanly near to God in that moment as is physically possible. The miracle? His son was saved, the sacrifice made, and complete understanding realized.
When we sacrifice, we are really walking the paths of joy because really we are walking closer and closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. I testify that Jesus Christ is the sacrificial lamb. He made the law complete. The new altar is the heart. The new QORBAN is the gift of reconciliation, generosity, justice, and mercy. Jesus didn’t abolish sacrifice—He transfigured it. Weekly we partake of the sacrament, which is the new sacrificial ordinance. Each Sunday when the bread and water are blessed, we partake. Where is the sacrifice? The sacrifice comes from within our hearts born out of a desire to follow our Savior and become more like him. May we Qorban, sacrifice the things in our lives that distance us from our Savior, and walk, inch, run…you choose into our Savior’s outstretched arms. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
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