What Do I Deserve?

[This is a post I started writing just a little over a year ago.]

Lately I've been thinking about those little things we do to treat ourselves. And since that grand holiday of Mother's Day recently passed, my ears were buzzing with phrases like "pamper Mother, she deserves it." And during the rest of the year, young mothers are urged to treat herself every once in a while... after all, she does some hard work.

But this concept of treating yourself, because you deserve it, is not just a motherhood thing - it extends to just about everyone. Workers treat themselves to Happy Hour. And at the end of the day, American diners treat themselves to dessert.

There's this conversation I've had more than once with my mother. It's usually about food and around the general idea that it's OK for me to go spend a little more money on food I like so I can eat more. I remember when I graduated from college and started working at a start-up in Austin, she told me that I should eat better and eat out more. Now that I'm done with school and working hard, she said, I can afford to and deserve to spend more money on food. Eat better. Eat healthier.

Sure. Who wouldn't agree that a hard working person deserves a little splurge now and then, right? Or maybe not?

I've come to learn that the US society is made up of a lot of people who believe they deserve and they expect and they are entitled to good things. But are we really? What makes us so deserving? What makes ME so deserving?

Biblically speaking, I believe that we are made in the image of God. Does that make us privileged? No, that makes us blessed. Or maybe you don't believe in God. You were born to parents or a parent. Does that make you privileged? Well, not necessarily. You were given life, and that is a blessing, but it doesn't automatically make you privileged to anything in particular.

If this is true, then what would my life be like if I really lived like I'm NOT entitled or deserving? Would I be more grateful of what I have? Would I waste less and want less?