"... in his joy ... he sells all ..." - Matthew 13:44

Have you ever thought of it? The process of our living involves a lot of trade-off and barter. We are forever giving up some things in order that we might have others; we are perpetually sacrificing this so we may have that. We do this in our marriages; we do this in our occupational choices; we do this in the matter of having children; we do it at almost every juncture of the journey we make. In most of our choices we are actually giving up certain freedoms that we may have for certain others. Whatever scenic road we take, we take it at the price of denying ourselves the scenery along the other roads we might have taken.

We like to believe that what we are getting is worth the sacrifice we are making. We want to think we are giving u…