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Reader question: Please explain “labor of love”, as in: A book on 20 local residences was a labor of love for the three collaborators. My comments: Labor of love means a job (labor) done for free and out of enjoyment (love). The above example means that the three co-authors (collaborators) wrote the book for their love of the subject matter rather than money to be made from it. “Labor of love” is an idiom descriptive of any task “that is either unpaid or badly paid and that one does simply for one’s own satisfaction or pleasure or to please someone whom one likes or loves” (TheFreeDictionary.com). Labor means hard work. Originally, this idiom might have derived from, or at least possibly inspired by observing mothers going into labor. A mother in labor, as birth giving is known, is thus called because of the pains involved. Mothers, most of them at any rate, go through this without complaint because of the love for the child to come. Hence, labor of love. In the Bible (Thessalonians 1:2, 1:3, King James Version), “labor of love” refers to doing God’s work: We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. Here are media examples of labor of love, “work undertaken for the pleasure of it or for the benefit of a loved one” (Phrases.org.uk), and, of course, largely for free: | 
