Service

Was reading again last night... I'm reading Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. It's a really cool book actually. My church are reading Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life, but I thought I'd really CoD this lent. It's bizarre though because up until yesterday, nothing had really challenged me.

So I was reading the chapter about The Discipline of Service and it was talking about the differences between self-righteous service and true service. So I read a couple of sentences that went something like this... Self-righteous service seeks approval. It needs to know that it has been worthwhile and appreciated. True service does not mind whether it has been appreciated. It is content in being hidden.

I was so struck by that. People are often telling me how much of a servant's heart I have and how they aspire to follow my example. Sure, I do serve quite a lot, but what does my heart look like? Those sentences weren't the only ones to describe the 2 types of service, but they struck me.
When I do things for people I like to be acknowledged, to have someone say thank you. And if that doesn't happen, sometimes I do get a little frustrated or something in my heart wonders whether what I did was worth it. But, I shouldn't be like that should I?

My gut reaction to those sentences was 'but it's only natural to feel like you want appreciation. I'm sure everyone feels that way'. But maybe they don't. Do you? So what am I supposed to do? Never expect any thanks? Not care whether people know what I've done or what?
It seems odd, maybe that's the way it's meant to be. Any thoughts?
I shall go and dwell on this for a bit!