"we accept the love we think we deserve"

"Whatever amount you put into something is what you get out of it." Never have I heard a phrase in which I could agree AND disagree with more.

The agree side: Effort always counts for something. You want to win the game? You wanna learn how to dunk/do a triple axel/swim a 29sec 50 free? You gotta train your ass of for it. Cause you're not going to get there simply with luck and/or talent. Someone out there is always gonna be more talented than you, so it's up to you to work harder than anyone else because THAT is something you CAN control. Even in retreats, school, et cetera, the amount of work/time/effort you put into something is almost always reciprocated. It's common knowledge for the most part.

The disagree side: I've been in points in my life when the getting something out of the effort you put in is complete and utter BS!!!!! No matter how hard I try to be good at basketball, I'll never be as good as the 6'2 girl who works as hard as me just cause she has the natural advantage. Time and time again, I've put too much effort/time/$/thought into relationships with people in my life and it definitely doesn't come back to me the way I want it to.

The bottom line: No matter how much time/effort/$/etc you put into something, you need to evaluate for YOURSELF what you think you deserve. Though God tries his best, He's got 6 billion people to watch over, and its easy to overlook people, esp. when they don't look out for themselves.
So when something amazing happens to you, don't be afraid to be happy. If you worked for it, if you spent time thinking about it, ride the high. Acknowledge you deserve it, otherwise it'll be gone in a snap and you'll be stuck settling for much less than you really should.