[futile]

It cannot be futility to give up something for someone who may never appreciate it.

Whether a mother's rest or a father's leisure or a dollar or five minutes in prayer or my time as I know it given up willingly so that someone else might have five more minutes of chances, there is the real (and often realized) possibility that sacrifice will never be accepted, let alone understood.

But that is what Christ offers. He created a clear picture of Life with the hope that all would join in, but possibility that few would. He offered anyway. He gave ultimately to prove that our idea of ultimate importance is foolishly small. It cannot be futile to discover and live like him.

Love is bigger than results. Love gives freely with no return. Love is self-perpetuating because it is the only thing which overcomes rejection of itself. Love cannot be crushed, because it needs no response. Love does not get a payout, because what is given with expectation is not Love.

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 1 cor 1.5

To experience this unappreciated giving is to share in the suffering of Jesus.

It cannot be futility to give like this, even when it does not make sense to me, because it is what Christ has done.

Christ has died
Christ is risen
Christ will come again.