Sacrifices Big and Small

Happy Saturday! I hope your weekend is off to a great start!

We spent all day yesterday in Gettysburg. This was my first time there and it was incredibly moving. We spent some time at the newly-opened museum there, then took an almost 3-hour driving tour (with audio guide) of the battlefields. I had no idea the battle of Gettysburg covered so many miles! Seeing the monuments on the battlefields and reading about the personal stories at the museum was very moving, and I was struck with the sacrifice that so many made to preserve the union and eliminate slavery.

Sacrificing for the good of our country, or sacrificing to help or even save another person's life is something we embrace as representing the highest of ideals. My admiration and appreciation for those who have sacrificed so much, even up to their own lives, to secure and preserve our freedom cannot be adequately expressed in words.

I'm almost hesitant to write any more, because I don't in any way whatsoever want to diminish the tremendous sacrifice that these brave individuals made. However, I do find it interesting that while we admire (as we should) the sacrifice of others, and while most of us wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice our own lives for someone we love, we often struggle when it comes to making sacrifices for our own good.

Going on 5&1 requires sacrifice, but it's a small sacrifice and a short-lived one. In order to get to a healthy weight, we are asked to sacrifice eating some of the food we like for a short period of time. In terms of sacrifice, this is really a pretty small one :-). The question is, do we think we're worth the sacrifice? Is getting to a healthy weight, maybe even getting off of medications and reversing disease, worth a small, short-term sacrifice?

Again, writing about sacrificing while on 5&1 seems almost sacrilegious after a day at Gettysburg . . .

I'll end today's blog by asking what you're willing to give up temporarily to get to a healthy weight? Who's committed to an on-plan day today?