Q: What Do You Really Deserve?

Answer: To scrub the word, "deserve" out of your life!

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

I’m going to tell you right now, I like to eat. And I hate hate hate dieting.
And this is not an anti-junk-food rant.

I bought some donuts today. I’ve been craving donuts for a while, and today, Super Bowl Sunday is as good a day as any.

I was thinking, “I deserve them…” And then I thought, “For what?”

There were a number of things I could celebrate:
1. My son turned 34 this past Friday! (we celebrated with ice cream cake and pizza!)
2. We got the cats 5 years ago exactly this past Wednesday (we told the cats but they just thought we were going to give them something to eat) (which of course, we did).
3. My follow-up breast imaging results (scans done Friday) are NORMAL!
4. And the Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl — and I don’t love football, but I’ll watch and root for the Chiefs.
I won’t be gutted if they lose. Philadelphia is an amazing city… and the people love their teams passionately.

Do I “deserve” to eat donuts because of these things? No, I’m using the word to excuse myself for eating them. Because I don’t need them. They are just something I’m craving.

This got me thinking: Does anyone deserve anything? What does “deserve” really mean?

From mid-13c., "to merit, be worthy of for qualities or actions," from Old French deservir (Modern French desservir) "deserve, be worthy of, earn, merit" and directly from Latin deservire "serve well, serve zealously," from de- "completely" (see de-) + servire "to serve" (see serve (v.)). The classical Latin sense evolved to "be entitled to because of good service" (a sense found in Late Latin), then in French "be worthy of."

Hmmmm.
I mean sometimes I say I “deserve” this as a reward for enduring troubling news or difficult circumstances. Not because I merit, or have earned it… does anyone earn misery, or want it?

So I want to take deservingness out of this equation.

I accept that sometimes I just want donuts. Or that most of the time, I do not want donuts. Donuts are not a reward and lack of them is not a punishment or an enticement to try to earn a reward.

But I want to be deserving because of things I do that might bring their own reward. Or punishment. We have to consider that.

Does everybody deserve what they get in life, good or bad? My answer is NO.

There are people who think that if your life is all bad, you probably deserve that you don’t get any love and support.

I don’t think you deserve a bad life. I think you deserve love and support.

Please Like, Comment, and Share!,