Our goodness is, rather, the recognition we offer and the thanks we return for the gifts and the love already given us. Rather than a request for something yet to come, it is a response to the abundance of gifts that have already been given and received. It is in our makeup that, having been given, we want to give back. Having been loved, we want to be the best for our lover. I know that the space is very small between “I am doing it in response to love” and “I am doing it to be loved.” But in that space resides the difference between joy-filled peace and anxious despair.
