2, 4, 6, 8 ... Who Do We Appreciate?

2, 4, 6, 8… WHO DO WE APPRECIATE?


Being a mom can be a thankless job.  A lot of what Mom takes care of is the stuff that’s easily taken for granted.  You mean clean dishes don’t magically appear in the cabinets?  The laundry fairy comes and guarantees that clean underwear is always in the drawers, right? 

Moms deal with the mundane, everyday, cog-in-the-wheel issues of life.  What’s for dinner?  When is my science projects due?  Who’s got soccer practice when?  Not exactly standing ovation or Nobel Prize material.  Our tasks generally go unnoticed by our families until the inevitable ball gets dropped, and then we become susceptible to a condition known as Martyr’s Syndrome.  Martyr’s Syndrome is vaguely similar to whining (although we’re definitely not going to admit that) wherein the mom in question laments her unappreciated status on Planet Earth in loud and dramatic tones in order to gain the begrudging attention of her family.  Such attention generally includes patronizing tones and a great deal of eye-rolling which the family doesn’t think mom sees and Mom doesn’t mention because beggars can’t be choosers.  Attention is attention after all.

If we get bent out of shape over the little things for which we don’t get credit, imagine how Jesus must have felt on the cross.  Talk about unappreciated.  He was hanging on a cross, a criminal’s death sentence, to save our eternal souls.  Who was in the audience?  The crowd that shouted for him to die instead of a convicted murderer.  The Pharisees who orchestrated the whole thing.  Roman guards who beat him half to death, shoved a crown of thorns on his head and were now shooting craps for his torn clothes.  His mom and a couple of his followers weeping, the others nowhere to be found.  Not one person stood at the cross shouting, “We appreciate so much what you’re doing!  Keep up the good work.  We don’t know what we’d do without you!” 

Jesus had every right to feel angry, hurt, and resentful.  Here he was saving our eternal souls from everlasting damnation and getting zero appreciation, but unlike us, Jesus didn’t whine or complain.  He knew what he was doing and why.  He didn’t need a parade or a 21 gun salute.  He was doing what his father asked him too, and that was good enough. 

He was a martyr without the syndrome. 

© Sandra Perry 2007