This is a fantastic and much-needed reminder.
My father did our wedding ceremony and one of the things he felt was most important to tell my husband and I was that we had to be willing to die for each other in what he called "a thousand small ways every day". To give up self, because that's the kind of death that brings the most life and is so often overlooked. I remember that when I have small children climbing into bed with me at what feels like the crack of dawn after a difficult night's sleep and they want my attention...and breakfast.
Dying to self constantly takes a whole lot more staying power and love than even that split second when choosing to put yourself in harm's way to save someone else.
Except a corn of wheat die, it abideth alone...
And I wonder often...why does some seed in the soil produce 30, some 60 and some 100-fold?
Not a popular idea...but it's not all equal. Those thousand deaths every day MUST be completed or the harvest diminishes slightly even when there is a harvest.
Yup, If it dies, it brings forth much fruit.