I was at the doctor's office last week, because I had the flu. I go to a children's doctor's office, and laugh all you want, but I prefer it. Going to the doctor terrifies me. As I was sitting in the little office waiting for the doctor, I heard sirens. I thought nothing of it, because I live in a metroplex,and those sounds are not uncommon. They gradually grew louder, and louder, until I felt like they were right outside the office. I looked up at my mom, who was sitting by the door of the office, and said "Mom, they sound like they're coming here!"
She looked at me and said, " It's a doctor's office, honey. They probably see them at least once a day."
I still wasn't really putting two and two together. Then the quiet doctor's office instantly went from silent to vibrant with sound. There was coughing out in the hallway, and a nurse announced help is close by. More coughing, and heart wrenching sobs. My heart began to shake; a child was sick. Really sick. I heard a women speak, the mother. I recognized her voice; I had seen them come in. She was a young mother, maybe 23, and had a small boy, probably 2 and a little girl who was probably only 11 months old. I don't know what it was, my illness, all the medicine I was drugged up on, or something else, but I was beginning to lose it. I was looking at the ceiling, blinking furiously, supposing I could force the tears back inside. It's funny, when we're upset, how we think we can do superhero things.
Out in the hallway, I heard the EMT's come in and roll in a stretcher. As they begin to coax the child and alert the EMT's of the little girls ailments, I heard a second nurse speak.
" It's ok, it's ok, your sister's going to be just fine. It's ok, she is going to be just fine."
I then completely lost it. Even with my furious blinking strategy, there was no stopping the tears now. My mom looked up in alarm- I don't cry in public. I just looked at her, and said, "It's just so sad. He is sad. She is so little. Mom, it is all just so sad."
I knew how that boy felt. So little, and to see your sister, probably barely three feet tall, if even that, strapped down onto a big stretcher, with oxygen masks and IV tubes strapped onto her, being taken away into the back of a large loud truck. He would have given anything to take her place. What if that was Hope? I wanted to trade places with that girl. I wished all she had was the flu, and I would take her place, so they would not be sad. If only life worked that way. Maybe, in a way, it does.
Have you ever seen the "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"? I have read the books many times, but it is something else entirely to actually see the movie. You might shove it aside, another Harry Potter, Eragon, or something else of the like. True, it is about a magical land that people enter through a wardrobe. If you were really being honest though, you would realize, like with anything, there is much more to it than that.
Out of four siblings, the third one, Edmund, is a traitor. He betrays his own sister, and sends her sister's savior to an inescapable death, all for a chance to be king with the White Witch. Throughout the movie, he is rude, and obviously ridden with guilt. He runs away from his family to the White Witch, and instead see's he, in search of Worldly things, has sealed his and his family to an inescapable death as well.
However, Aslan, this great and terrible lion, the true ruler of Narnia, offers his own life in place of Edmund's, and takes a traitor's death. The two girls, Susan and Lucy, watch Aslan die, atop his own table. He offers no resistance. It is a terrible thing, to see their faces. It is literally watching a heart break.
Meanwhile, Edmund has been freed, and he is forgiven by all. There is about to be a war between the Witch's camp and Aslan's. Peter, in Aslan's absence, is placed as High King. He, Edmund, and the smaller army enter into war, without Aslan.
Long story short, Peter finds himself in a position of a death mission. He tells Edmund to run, and take the girls and get home. He then turns and begins to head towards the White Witch, who is also racing to greet him. Edmund turns to go, and in true Hollywood form, turns and looks back. He sees the White Witch, who promised him fame, fortune, and anything he could ever want. She is raising her sword and wand against Peter, his brother, who is always bossing him around, getting onto him, always picked before him, but who is now going to give his life for Edmund who, in truth, was the cause of his death now. Edmund, runs back towards the White Witch, raises his own sword, and brings it down upon the witch's wand, snapping it in half.
Time stops; her eyes flash. You see Peter, standing off to side, now in a role reversal, watching Edmund and the Witch. Quicker than humanely possible, she takes her broken wand, flips it around to the broken half, and stabs Edmund, right in the heart.
It is a children's movie, so of course, Aslan returns and all is saved.
Edmund ends up living. It's besides the point though, because at this point, and only ever in this movie, I cry. Every single time.
Sacrifice. The sign of true love. I'm not saying that if you don't die for someone you love, it is not true love. It is just the ultimate sign of what love is. It demonstrates, that you are no longer thinking of yourself. Instead, you are putting someone else before you, and would rather receive a great punishment for someone else so that they might go onto live in all happiness.
Not all sacrifice ends in a grave - we sacrifice every day for the things we find important. Maybe you cancel plans so you can spend time with your mom, or pay for someone else's meal out of your own money. Perhaps you spend hours studying for a test so you can get scholarship money so your parents don't have to sacrifice so much of their own money to send you to college, or you give up going to baseball camp so you can go on a mission trip. The possibilities are endless.
However, sacrifice can be switched. Edmund sacrificed his own family for his own personal gain. We can abuse, and use people to get ourselves ahead in life. When we do that, we sacrifice friendships, people, friends, and other people's hearts. We are no better then if we took a wand and stabbed them in the heart, because after all, what do they matter to us? We're not really thinking of others at all, anyways.
What is important to us is obvious. It's all about who we give our time too. I believe in the Ultimate Sacrifice, and I know I will never be able to repay it back. You don't have to be religious though, to live a life of sacrifice. I can't tell you it is always fun and painless. It's sacrifice, not giving a pair of jeans away because they are too big. I promise though, you will reap the rewards. If it is true sacrifice though, you won't even want them. Because at that point, that person, that thing, that Great Thing, they're worth it.
People tell me sometimes, " I don't want God. I just want to have fun, make the most of everyday. Do my own thing." Don't think you are escaping sacrifice though, you are just choosing to live for something else then me. Yourself.
Treasure your family. Treasure your friends. Treasure your ideals, what moral standards, what principles make you YOU. It's all worth it. Don't think you're not worth a sacrifice. If a traitor can be redeemed, you are worth far more. There is nothing, NOTHING, you have done that can't be forgiven. Nothing that makes you less deserving of grace, of a second chance. Don't think no one would take your place on that stretcher. In fact, I guarantee, someone has sacrificed already for you. I know I would.
For Narnia!
Olive :)
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