When I first became deeply involved in church life, I was burning with the desire to share what felt like a newly discovered treasure: God.

I talked about faith constantly. I invited friends to come to church with me, enthusiastically explaining how the world was really устроен—how spiritual laws, just like physical ones, were strict and predictable. Fall from a height and you’ll get injured. Sin, and your soul will suffer damage. Do the right thing, and you will surely be rewarded.

At least, that’s what I believed back then.

One day, a friend and I were driving somewhere and running late. I started the conversation by scolding her for not letting another car merge in front of us.

“Oksana, why don’t you do good for others?” I said. “Why not endure a little inconvenience so someone else can have it easier?”

She pushed back. The car, she said, was darting from lane to lane. She could move over later. And besides, we were already late. “If we let everyone in,” she said, “we’ll never get anywhere.”

“We will!” I insisted, full of righteous confidence. “The Lord will get us there even faster. You’ll see!”

We didn’t. We arrived late anyway—not disastrously, but late enough. The small miracle I had promised, meant to confirm my simple equation—do good and get an immediate reward—never came.

Years passed. A lot happened. Slowly, painfully, I came to understand that it’s a mistake to make deals with the Creator. You do this for me, I’ll do that for you. Human relationships with God are far deeper and richer than transactional logic.

If I let another car merge, the reward is not guaranteed to be faster traffic or a smoother day. The real reward is quieter and harder to measure. My heart softens. It becomes more alive. I do something good—and I myself thaw a little inside.

That is the reward. Not an earthly one, but a heavenly one.

So yes, hurry to do good deeds. But not because you expect the universe to pay you back immediately. Do them because they change you. Because they help us grow closer to what we are meant to be. And the rest—the daily details, the timing, the traffic—will work itself out according to God’s will, and in the way that is truly best for us.