Pay It Forward

I've been told I have a "servant heart."

I love hearing that, but it's not why I do acts of service for others.

My love language is strongly acts of service.
So, partially, the reason I do acts of service is because that is how I best feel loved.

But the true reason, the one I didn't realize, popped out in a quick Facebook conversation.

The reason I do acts of service could actually be considered, well, greedy.

Without realizing it, or thinking about it, I labor under a "pay-it-forward" mentality in hopes of making the world better. A little kinder, a little easier, a little more forgiving.

For Jace.

When I take dinner to a family with a newborn, or offer to babysit, I'm not doing it because I want them to owe me. I'm not doing it to appease God (GRACE means I'm covered whether or not I volunteer myself). And I'm not forcing myself to do it with the idea that karma will owe me good things.

I do it because if I do something nice, and that action inspires the recipient to do something kind for another, then the world has been made a touch nicer.
The world that my son has to grow up in.
That all my future children have to encounter and learn from.

When you become a mom you stop being greedy for yourself: embracing motherhood is the most selfless thing a woman can do. But you become greedy for your children instead.

You want for them.
Your actions become all about them.
And your greed just changes from you to them.

But, truth be told, that's a kind of greed I can live with.