Say the Words

Do you ever have one of those times when you know that God’s trying to get something through to you? Like you’re just on the edge of realizing something? This has been one of those weeks. I still haven’t quite got my head around what God’s trying to tell me, but just the hints of it have got my head spinning.

Let me start with a confession – I talk to my dog a lot. [I live alone, if that makes it any less weird.] And I tell her that I love her a lot. I don’t know what led me this week to suddenly be aware of it, but once I was it hit me that that I include “I love you” in almost everything I say to her.

“I love you. Do you want a treat?”

“Let’s go for a walk because I love you.”

“I love you, but I have to go to work.”

 “Thank you for not peeing on me like Honey. It's just another reason that I love you.” [Yes, my parents’ dog peed on me, but that’s another story.]

I was honestly kind of shocked when I realized that I did this. And then I wondered about it… is it a good thing? A sadly pathetic thing? But more importantly, I wondered if I say those words to the people I feel that way about. 

You know what? I think that I do. But I'm trying to make more of an effort to make sure that I am telling people that I love them more often. I want it to be a habit to say “I love you,” because I know how important it is for me to hear it. Whether it’s in text messages or at the end of phone conversations, drawn out in a wonderfully sing-song-y way or abbreviated to “ILY,” whispered or shouted or written, I love to hear that someone loves me.

But is it enough to say it? Is it enough to hear it? 

Love is an ACTION, so does saying “I love you” really mean anything without action behind it?

Now I've got dcTalk's "Luv is a Verb" stuck in my head, so I'll have to work on that question some more later. 

~ Helen