labor of love

American  

noun

1. work done for the sake of one's own enjoyment or of benefit to others rather than for material rewards.

   He coached amateur baseball teams as a labor of love.

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labor of love Idioms  

1. Work done for one's satisfaction rather than monetary reward. For example, The research took three years but it was a labor of love. This expression appears twice in the New Testament (Hebrews 6:10, Thessalonians 1:3), referring to those who do God's work as a labor of love. [c. 1600]

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Etymology

Origin of labor of love

First recorded in 1665–75

Example Sentences

Dressing up as characters is a labor of love for him — he doesn’t do this as a business, he wrote, or even as a hobby.

From Los Angeles Times

The book is a labor of love and obsession, a search for answers by a philosopher who can, at times, overthink things.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The Tiny Chef Show” is a labor of love, which adds to the challenge of making it independently.

From Los Angeles Times

But for Libow, who bought it as a collector’s item as much as an investment, it’s a labor of love.

From Los Angeles Times

For over three years, Hollinquest and Martinez worked on the Radical Monarchs “as a labor of love” all the while balancing full-time jobs.

From Salon