1
general::
Phrase(s): a labor of love
Fig. a 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. • Jane made no money out of the biography she wrote. She was writing about the life of a friend and the book was a labor of love. • Mary hates knitting, but she made a sweater for her boyfriend. What a labor of love.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
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]
American Heritage Idioms