Gifts
Acts of Service
Quality Time
Physical Touch
These are the 5 love languages as taught by Gary Chapman. I have taken quizzes several times, and always, my top love language is physical touch. I am a hugger, I talk with my hands, I touch when I talk, and I don't have much of a personal space 'bubble'. Quality time and affirmation (ie, words of encouragement) tie for 2nd, then acts of service and lastly comes gifts.
So here's what God shoved in my face tonight as I was trying very hard to communicate to a good friend who is back in Ohio that I am so stinkin' proud of him, and all I wanted to do was jump through the internet and give him a HUGE hug...
When something good happens to someone I care about, I get genuinely excited with them... my favorite way to show this is obviously going to be through physical touch or physically showing it... aka hugging, jumping up and down, squeezing their hands, etc... now, being in Ghana... obviously I can't do this with all of these amazing people God has allowed me to maintain close friendships with. Don't you think God might have placed me in a position where I had to use words instead of physical touch more often on purpose? I do!!! I'm thinking there is a pretttyyyy good chance that maybe, just maybe, he has been working on me in this area, and I don't know why, but I just realized it tonight.
Sometimes words are more important than a hug or physically showing someone I care... sometimes people need to hear 'I'm proud of you!', 'You are special to me', or simply just 'I love you', and while I wouldn't hesitate to say something like this to people in the past, I find that when I can rely only my words to express these things (not the ability to hug or jump up and down), I find myself being much more intentional about expressing things in words. I want to be someone who encourages those around me. I want people to know that I am excited with them, that I am proud of them, that they are special to me, and that I love them... and sometimes the best way to communicate all of those things is simply to SAY them.
Isn't God smart :)
Big hugs from Jardyn :)
