I don't think it is a coincidence that the siddur (Jewish prayer book) has two major references to SACRIFICES right at the beginning - the Akedah Yitzchak (bounding / almost sacrifice of Yitzchak) and the korbonos ("offerings" or "sacrifices") brought in the Bais HaMikdash (The Holy Temple).
One very simple lesson from reading and davening (praying) these sections is that it takes work and SACRIFICE to accomplish things that are important. Most things don't come easy. It took a lot of work and practice for our 12-year-old soon to beat me at a few games of h-o-r-s-e on the basketball court this week.
One thing that I SACRIFICE daily is sleep. I push myself to maximize the day, sleeping for 4 hours or so and rising up by 3:30am to get to synagogue to learn Torah. Why? That's important to me and I know I can sleep that little in order to climb toward my goals in serving G-d. Everyone's goals are different, but I think it is safe to say they all require some sort of SACRIFICE in order to achieve them.
Thank you and many blessings,
Moshe
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