We know it can be a confusion. There are people you will/can/must interact with while experiencing life in this body. Each interaction serves to allow you the opportunity to learn that which will bring you ever closer to Oneness. What you say and do and think actually has nothing to do with Them. Nothing. You do not make the choice to smile and be kind in order to BE a good person – you make the choice because you ARE a good person and you are letting that goodness show. Accept your inner goodness. And yet, it seems, these lessons cannot be learned in a vacuum. You require the interaction of/with others in order to make your choices. Choosing to speak kindly to the lamp is quite different than choosing to smile and speak kindly to the surly grocery store clerk. YOUR kindness, should you choose it, allows the light to shine brighter within your heart. Whether or not the clerk chooses to let the light in is determined by their free will alone – you have nothing to do with that side of it. Nothing. Nothing. Your choosing to smile and be kind because you expect a kindness in return negates the choice – because – when the response from them is your desired outcome, the act is coming from your ego – your ego saying, ‘make me feel better about myself’. Only you can make yourself feel better about yourself. And yet, it can only be done with/through/in spite of interaction with other souls. It is a confusion.
What is the point of inner light if there is nowhere for it to shine? It is meant to be shared For Your Own Sake. Sharing it because you think another will gain from it is an expression of Ego.
Expectations come from Ego Need. A feeling of lack. A sense of entitlement. And yet, you are Entitled to Feel Joy. You need not expect to feel joy – you need only feel it. It is there for the taking. As we have said in the past, all Joy is within you at all times. You need only look within, keep the light of love shining within, and you will know the Joy. Expecting to feel joyful relies on Joy coming from without. That is old fashioned – it is from the Age of God Without. You are fortunate enough to be living in the Age of God Within. Think about it and you will see it is not a confusion at all. Let the knowledge of this shine forth from within you!