Part II

[it has no expectations]

Do the unexpected by not expecting anything “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

I work at a restaurant and today I found myself counting my dollars between tables, trying to get out as soon as possible while getting a good profit out of people. Most days are like this.

Some days though, I decide to forget about how much I make and instead try to serve the people who come in because they matter. Instead of trying to get away with doing as little side-work as possible, I see what help my co-workers need and do my best to meet their needs. Instead of complaining when people do a less than adequate job (and in a restaurant you are forced to depend on each-other), I look for opportunities to speak words of encouragement to the people around me. I’ll let you guess which days I feel better at the end of.

What is  getting money from work, what is getting “credit” and even knowledge from school, what is riding the bus, what is eating dinner, what is any of that good for in the end? What does it all add up to? What is life without love?

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Gal. 5:6

And what we are trying to do is make our lives and ourselves matter without love. Maybe we have a love of pleasure and a love of comfort, but no love of God and no love of people. So the things we do, even if we think are for love, are often really because we expect something in return.

            And the unfortunate thing about people is that they rarely meet our expectations. And when our expectations are not met, we are disappointed. And when we are filled up with disappointment it empties us of gratitude and invites in bitterness. It’s probably better to let go of the entitlement we feel to get something back from loving people. If we cease to (even internally) demand returns from other people, then the action loving  in itself becomes the reward and the appreciation and joy we feel toward other people when they give love to us increases tenfold.