What's Your Language of Love?

One day as I listened to NPR, I heard a story that I couldn't believe.  The story was talking about people who fall in love from different countries with vastly different cultures.  I was intrigued, but what really caught my ear was a statement one man said- "When we married, neither of us were very good at speaking each other's language." 

He went on to describe that now after 40 years of marriage, they have learned to speak each other's language.  Their love, beginning some 40 years before, was marked by attraction.  Yet it had taken them a lifetime of marriage to speak in a language that both could understand.

I spent many hours thinking about what that man said and reflected on the countless weddings I have attended or officiated.  When a couple gets married, most often they have fallen in love in a romantic, life-changing way.  They adore each other and can't imagine life without the other...and this is very important! 

Yet, most often couples are just learning how to speak the language of love.  They are still finding out who they are while learning about their spouse.  They are not yet fluent in the language of love.  These love languages- Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service, Gifts and Physical Touch- are keys to unlocking how we understand, or hear, that another loves us.  Yet equally powerful to knowing your language is knowing the language of another.

In the weeks ahead, we'll discover the beauty of unlocking the love languages.  As I shared yesterday, it changed the relationship of a father and son!  The son only wanted his dad to spend quality time with him whereas the dad believed that by giving his son gifts, his son would know how much his dad loved him.  It wasn't until a trip away that the son got the clear message "I Love You!" 

Perhaps that is why these love languages are really God's Love Language.  Each of us is unique and experience love differently.  Yet God has provided conduits to communicate his love to us.  May you hear afresh that you are loved by God and through understanding your love language, be able to receive that love!