Love. The greatest gift.

I think the greatest gift you can give another person, is love. When you give love, you give many other gifts as well. You give freedom. Freedom from fear and insecurity. Freedom to live into who you are. Freedom to share your inner world. When we don't know that we are loved, it is intimidating to bare your soul. When you know you are loved, you know that your soul will be handled with care. If there is one thing I want to accomplish in this life it is to love well.

I'm often unaware of how to love well, because all people are different. An action that I might consider to be loving, someone may interpret differently. The concept of love languages makes a lot of sense to me. The way that I receive love best is through quality time. I feel most loved when someone spends time with me. Not just time, but quality time... intentional time. The way that I give love is through acts of service. You know this if I have ever done your dishes or watched your kids. But there are love languages that I am not good at. Like words of affirmation. I suck at affirming people. It doesn't come naturally for me, but I want to get better at it. I suck at giving gifts. It would be more natural for me to clean your whole house and organize your closet or move you into your new house than it would be for me to pick out the perfect gift for you. But, I want to become more well rounded, so that I can love the people that I've been blessed with, well.

How do you give and receive love?