Happy Valentine’s Day, sweet girls! I (Nicole) hope that today, no matter if you have a Valentine or not, you can reflect on all the love in your life. There is so much to be thankful for, friends!
To continue on in our series about relationships, today’s post is about love. There are so many different posts I could have written about love, but I wanted to highlight something that I think is of great importance.
Love languages.
If you’ve never heard of Gary Chapman’s book, you need to get right on Amazon and buy you a copy (they even make one for singles!) The Five Love Languages is such a great read if you want to love your significant other as well as you can… which, I am guessing you do! This book highlights five main love languages (words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch). For me, receiving gifts doesn’t fill my “love tank” as much as words of affirmation. Personally, I respond the most to sweet words. I would much rather get a love letter from my guy or get a sweet text from a friend than get little gifts every now and then.
Why are love languages important?
Knowing your love language allows you to verbalize with your loved ones how you receive their love and knowing your partner’s love language allows you to love them in the way they receive love best.
Knowing each other’s love languages will make a huge difference in your relationship. When you learn how your husband or boyfriend receives loves the best, you will learn how best to fill his “love tank”. In the same way, the more that your man knows your love language, the more that he is able to love you in the way that you feel best.
Want to know more about the love languages?
Visit the website HERE!
This book gave Brandon and I a new perspective on LOVE after reading it. The most important thing to remember is that no matter what your love language may be, your partner's love language is what you need to focus on GIVING! LESSON: It is just about a habit to GIVE what you WANT in return. That is NOT ALWAYS the language that your partner wants to receive. Yes, my giving "acts of service" and "quality time" to Brandon may be nice, but he feels LOVED when I give him "words of affirmation" and "physical touch". Even those these two languages are not what I want to RECEIVE, I have to open up to give him what he WANTS to make him feel LOVED! This is a very tricky lesson to learn. Like I said, out of habit you want to give the things that are most comfortable to you. BUT, that is not neccessarily the BEST for your partner. It took Brandon and I some time, BUT we have finally worked our way around each other's desires and learned to satisfy them most of the time. Don't get me wrong, we still get caught sometimes not paying too much attention and then we get back on track. Hey, maybe you will get "lucky" and be with someone who responds to the same love languages as you do. That sure would make it "easier". Not us, we have four totally different languages. LOL! This book, I think, can definitely help a couple thinking about getting married OR EVEN a couple struggling in their marriage. The most often complaint in a marriage (after MONEY) is that one or both of the partners do not feel loved by the other. This book can really help out anyone. So if you know ANYONE who is thinking about tying the knot or calling it quits, share this book with them PLEASE! Our pastor suggested that Brandon and I read this before we were married. So, we did, and it was one of the best learning tools we have received thus far.
ReplyDeleteOops. I just re-read my comment above and realized I may have made something unclear. When referencing the word "you", I was not talking about YOU (Nicole)! I was talking about ANYONE in general reading this! I didn't want you to think that I was bossing YOU around! LOL!
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