I mowed my neighbor's lawn this week. I did it because their mower was in the shop (I asked last week if I could borrow it, since mine won't run longer than 2 minutes at a time). I also had the time and the energy, although I was sweating through my layers due to the sunshine and their extra-large yard. I felt good afterward; tired, but satisfied.
I was satisfied because I was able to serve them in that way, to deepen our miniscule connection, to tangibly love my neighbor as myself. Through my small act of kindness, I felt a part of God's great love for them - a shadow, really - and it was easier to pray for them.
Wow! I got all that out of mowing a lawn?! Well, I got it from being available to God's suggestion while I was doing laps around my yard.
I certainly didn't do it for a reward. However, they are decent people - one more notch in my prayer to love 'people' more - and insisted on a formal Thank You. Jesus teaches to us serve those who cannot repay you (Luke 14: 12-14), to please and seek God's approval, not men's (Gal. 1:10), to give in secret to receive God's greater reward than earthly acknowledgment (Mt. 6:1-4), to lay your treasures in Heaven (Mt 6:19-21).
I once hear a sermon about Secret Giving. This pastor regularly went out to breakfast looking for someone's breakfast to buy for them. He always gave instructions to the waiter to not reveal whom was paying the bill. Inevitably, some people insist on knowing their benefactor and pressed to know. The pastor was disappointed every time the person he was trying to bless found out that he paid their bill because, he reasoned, that his Heavenly reward was truncated by the earthly 'thank you' he received.
I'm not sure I completely agree with his conclusion, but it was interesting enough to stick in my memory for a few years. Is it really one or the other?
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