Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
“I need a pat on the back,” I said recently to my boss. After months of avoiding a colleague and a festering issue, I had listened to her side of the issue, explained gently a couple of
inside baseball things she hadn’t been aware of, and facilitated a new process that should make life easier for everyone.
I was relieved, joyful, happy… and in need of validation and praise from somebody, and my boss kindly provided it.
But as I sat down to write this week’s entry, I had to wonder to me why I needed that validation and praise. My colleague wasn’t intentionally being unkind; she just came to a conclusion based on the information she had, and who among us hasn’t done that? Further, it’s a relationship that needs to work for me to do my job right; getting along with her, you might say, is something I am obliged to do, regardless of how I might regard her.
But it’s hard, isn’t it? We clothe the naked, feed the hungry, friend the friendless and all the rest… and we look for a little appreciation of the effort from those around us and from God. If we’ve done all that, can’t He just once in exchange answer prayers precisely as we would like, or at least make the second cup of fancy, expensive coffee each day less alluring?
Well, sure, God does those things and more for us every day. But it’s because He loves us… not because we’ve done anything particularly well. May we remember that the hope of eternal salvation and His eternal love are why we do what we are obliged to do.
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