During the week, I bring Trip and Duke to work with me.  When Jackie comes into the office, she is smothered in love by Duke.  Trip manages to get his butt scratched, which he loves.  When Gary Johnson comes in on Wednesdays to clean, Trip is all over him and Duke sits back and watches.  How many of you cat lovers have been presented with a gift of a mouse at your doorstep?

How we love is as important as being loving.  Gary Chapman describes five way that people using to express and receive love, he calls them Love Languages.  You may not appreciate being drowned in Boxer “kisses”, but Duke and Trip are expressing their sincere feelings for you.  Part of our problems in expressing our love to another person happens when we express our love based on our love language and not theirs.  It is not that this is “bad” but it is not very effective.

Example:  My love language is gifts.  If you want to appreciate me – buy me something.  Bev’s love language is service.  She does stuff.  During this time of year cars need to be warmed up and frost scraped off windows.  My first thought to prove to Bev how much I love her would be to buy her a really great ice scraper.  But if I want Bev to know I love her, I need to get out of the house first and scrape her windows.

It is not enough for you to know you love someone, they have to know it too.