Doing good for somebody without expecting something in return makes me think of parenting. When your child is 3 weeks old, you feed her when she cries in the middle of the night, and you don't expect her to give you a kiss to say thank you. When she is 2 years old and can give you that kiss, she is saying "No!" to simple requests. You discipline temper tantrums with restraint and patience and don't expect her to respond "OK, Dad" to every instruction. When she is 5 years old and no longer throws tantrums, you answer her questions about everything and don't expect her to give you a moment's peace to think. When she is 13 years old and you finally have that moment's peace, you have to dedicate it to coming up with ways to help her work through the emotional turmoil of puberty, and you don't expect her to just "stuff it." When the emotions begin to subside and she enters young adulthood at last, you face the risk of grave disappointment as she begins to make major life decisions in ways you didn't expect or prepare for and certainly don't approve of .... Somebody once said, "When I was 15 years old I thought my parents were idiots. Now that I'm 25 my parents are geniuses. How did they get so smart so fast?"
The essence of parenting is sacrifice. Sure, there are rewards. Sometimes they even come from your kids. But if you expect to be rewarded for parenting at the time you're doing it, you are an idiot. More often than not, the only "reward" you experience from doing good for your children is the inner satisfaction of knowing that you're doing the right thing. If you can be content with that, you're ready to be a parent. Apply that same principle to the rest of your relationships, and you have what Jesus was driving at.
posted by Jim Moore @ 5:23 AM
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