quid pro quo | ˌkwid ˌprō ˈkwō | noun a favor or advantage granted or expected in return for something

True generosity is not the same as granting or paying back favors. True generosity means that there are no strings attached.

Ever.

If your relationships are maintained in terms of favors given, owed, and paid, you are in transactional relationships that may feel generous–but that “generosity” is only surface-level. Like a thin imitation- wood laminate veneer on fake furniture.

This leads to elaborate internal record keeping. It leads to unfriendly feelings of entitlement, disappointment, and unclarified indebtedness. In the worse cases, this is the foundational tactic of mobsters, pimps, drug dealers, and slave owners.

Note: There’s nothing wrong with business dealings!

But if a transactional quid pro quo mindset is hurting your relationships, I suggest that you begin noticing it, and begin writing a new script entitled, “No Strings Attached.”

But be careful. True Generosity is addictive.

May you become wholly intoxicated.

“Freely you have received; freely give”

Jesus Christ