The Language of LOVE

Last night I had a wonderful evening. Prayer walking was really cool - we covered twice as much territory as usual. Praise the Lord! Afterward I went for some coffee with some of my girls (ahem, women-friends - Achlai! haha) We had a really good chat about our love languages. For those of you who have never heard of this notion before, it's basically 5 different ways that you can receive love (I can't remember the name of the author...)

The five languages of love are
1)Quality time
2)Gifts
3)Acts of Service
4)Affection
5)Words of Affirmation.

There were 5 of us together and sharing how we receive love differently. I really appreciated learning how I can love my friends better. Because not everyone receives love in the same way. For example one of the love languages that I value a lot is affection. I have a friend, and whenever I saw her and was talking to her, I'd have my hand on her shoulder, or give her hugs or high five's etc. Because that's one of the big ways that I receive love. Turns out my friend is not a big fan of affection, so while I thought that i was really showing love to her, she clearly wasn't receiving it in the same way that I intended. Haha. You know who you are :) So it is good to talk about these things. So in good ol Tim Hortons we each listed these languages from the ones highest on our value system to lowest.

The wise Achlai Ernest also had a revelation of the fact that whatever our highest love language is, that is also the way that we can get hurt the most. Example: If my highest love language is words of affirmation, then if someone cuts me down with harsh words, it will affect me more than someone else that's highest love language is acts of service. For them it would be more severe if someone just stopped doing dishes or laundry or pitching in on their share of the work. Another interesting point we shared about was that once you find out what someone's highest love language is, then whenever they love you in that way, you know that they really care. For example, my lowest love language (although I do appreciate this) is acts of service. If someone cooks a meal for me, that's really nice and I do appreciate it, but I value the other love languages more. BUT if let's say Mary's no. 1 love language is acts of service and she cooks me a meal, I know that she must care a lot about me. Does that make sense?
Anyway, all this to say that I think that it's important to know how your friends and family and special ones in your life ;) receive love, so that you can love them in a way that they will receive it well.

In case anyone is interested, for this season of my life at least, I think that my order is...
1)Words of Affirmation 2)Affection 3)Quality Time 4)Gifts 5)Acts of Service

Little challenge for anyone who is up for it - think of the ways your receive love and share it. I'd LOVE to know. Hahaha