Last year, while taking my niece and nephew on an errand/pizza run the weekend before Easter, my nephew said it didn’t make sense that today was called “Good”.

He reasoned that a violent death was anything but good. Keeping in mind that I was talking with a 9- and 10-year old, I tried to explain to them how incredible and rare it is that someone would suffer and sacrifice His life for them, and for me, and everyone else in the world. I’m not sure that my response was adequate, but they seemed to understand.

I think Tom Thibodeau, professor of Servant Leadership at Viterbo University in LaCrosse, WI, shared a much better perspective. He states that he doesn’t work for the university or even its students. He works for the parents who work long days, pay taxes and bills, and then still choose to part with a check for their children’s education. He asks himself every day whether his effort is worth their sacrifice.

There’s an anonymous quote that goes, “Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you: Jesus Christ and the American Soldier. One died for your soul, the other died for your freedom.”

Today, we remember. We remember sacrifice, suffering, selflessness, generosity, gratitude, and above all… Love.

Every day, you make sacrifices for the people you love and care about; at home, at work, and everywhere in between. Countless people in your life have done the same for you in the past, helping to get you where you’re at today. And now, just like then, people continue to make daily sacrifices to help you continue on your life’s journey.

Whether you look to the Cross or at the faces of those around you, the question we ask ourselves remains as constant now as it was then, “Is my effort worth their sacrifice?”