UNCONDITIONAL LOVE HAS EXPECTATIONS

Yes! You heard me right—unconditional love, I said, has expectations. “Unconditional” simply means that there are no prerequisites or compulsory requirements from the recipient; it is freely given without any merit or qualification on the part of the receiver. There is nothing the recipient or object of this love can do or not do to experience and partake of this love.

Expectation, on the other hand, simply means that the giver awaits something in response to the gift—not so that the gift may be bestowed, but as a token of appreciation and gratitude from the recipient: the fruits of the gift. Since the giver knows the power and value of the gift, it is only right that they await the results of its reception.

True, it is not the reciprocation that determines the value of the gift, but it is the reciprocation that determines its effect and impact. When love gives, it is expected that it will leave a visible mark, for love begets love. Love never ceases to hope. Therefore, love believes all things and hopes all things. It forever looks and awaits the return, relentlessly pursuing its object, full of hope even in the face of hopelessness. Love is always full of expectation.

I do not wish to be understood as implying any demand from love itself, yet there is a clear sense in which it desires the good of its recipient and therefore anticipates positive outcomes. Love is not reliant upon those outcomes; it gives and continues to give of itself regardless of them, yet it still hopes for the best. It does not give itself upon any condition, but simply desires that fruits may spring forth from its selfless giving.