Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Jesus, over 2000 years ago

Sacrifice is a word that we see in action every day of our lives. Many of us have mothers and fathers who have given up their time and money so that we could play hockey, or take dance lessons. We have grandparents who sacrificed for our parents as they grew into adults.

Sacrifice is a word that runs across a full spectrum of life experiences. According to the Cambridge dictionary, “sacrifice means to give up something valuable to you in order to help another person.”

As I write this blog, our culture is anticipating Remembrance Day on Friday. It is a time when schools are practising special songs, memorizing poems and preparing skits. It is a time when we honour in word, in song, in silence, the lives of men and women past and present, who have given of themselves to “help another person.” So many military personnel have acted in sacrifice and love toward our nation to provide the security and safety we hold so dear. This week we remember and think of them, as wreaths are laid at war memorials across the nation. So many have done what Jesus said was the greatest act of love: greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

To lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Sacrifice is an act of love: giving up what you think you can control to help another is the greatest act of love.

In our world, these days of remembrance are a miracle, because they cause us to remember the miraculous: love displayed in death. When we speak of sacrifice, we cannot help but speak of it as the miracle of love.

Yet, it is a hard teaching, for how many widows and orphans are left behind, simply so that I can tuck my own children safely into bed tonight. They have sacrificed the nearest, most dear one, so that I can love freely.

Oh that I would approach this Remembrance Day with the miraculous in my mind and heart. Oh that I would approach this Remembrance Day with reverence and a grateful heart.

Thankfulness.

Today I will be thankful for the love that will never let go. It is laid down, as a seed in a field. Scripture teaches that unless a seed falls to the ground and dies there will be no fruit. There is much fruit in the laying down of life. It brings more life.

So for this love, this sacrifice, this fruit of life, I shout my “thank yous” from the rooftop:

To all the military orphans.

To the military widows.

To those who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, and those who love them.

To those who no longer walk this earth.

To those who continue to serve in our nation, and around the world.

My greatest thank you is to Jesus, who suffered, died and rose again. For me. For You.

No greater love is there than this than to lay down your life for your friend.

Remember. Remember deeply, then say thank you. For today is a miracle of love.

Rebecca van Noppen is a teacher, home educator, writer, intercessor, and More Than Enough blogger, who happens to be married to a financial coach. A lover of Jesus, she is on a journey of surrender, kindness, and generosity.