I was recently discussing with someone how often our reasons for doing good things can be mixed.
Even when we are doing good and with good intentions we can at the same time also look for affirmation.
We so much want to be liked and affirmed and look for others to affirm us.
There is nothing wrong with being affirmed and liked. There is nothing wrong with feeling connected. There is nothing wrong with healthy intimacy.
However, our happiness cannot depend on the mouths and thoughts of other people.
It is immature loving to be motivated to do what is good so that we can have affirmation from others.
God’s love is so unconditional, so pure, so totally wanting good for us, so eternal and totally committed!
The more we take time to focus on God’s love, the more we put ourselves at God’s disposal, the more we spend time in prayer, and the less we need to look for affirmation from others for our happiness.
God’s love is more than enough for us.
God’s love is however also channelled to us through each other. It is a wonderful gift to gratefully receive Love from others.
The beautiful prayer attributed to Saint Francis reminds us ‘to love not to look to bring love, that in giving we receive, that in dying we are born to eternal life.
Yes the ego, our insecure self, needs to die so that we can truly live. Every now and again the love of God shakes us up so that we can cast into the deep, into the holy insecurity of God’s love otherwise we do not truly, grow in our loving.
We can indeed rest secure in God’s incredible love. He truly liberates us and protects us from self-deception and the deception of our old enemy.