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

“It’s going be a labor of love to rebuild the newspaper and we hope that by doing so, we can speed up the recovery of Pacific Palisades.”

From Los Angeles Times

The lodge had been a labor of love and a project they ran together.

From Literature

“Restoring the farm has been a labor of love,” she previously told Realtor.com.

From MarketWatch

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