Ways to Say "I Love You"

Today is Valentine's Day, and I am hurrying to write in my blog before whipping up some heart-shaped waffles or something ridiculously domestic like that for my wonderful family, so we can have a special Valentine breakfast together. We have special cards and gifts for the children, and my husband and I have our own gifts to exchange later. He took some time off of work today, so that we could have a romantic lunch together and spend as much time together as possible. I have a present being delivered to his office - oops! - so I'm sure we'll still stop by there sometime today!

Valentines are a fun way to say "I love you". There are lots of ways to say, "I love you". I was thinking about it the other day, when my mom left her jacket at my house. (It's actually a really cute one, and if I were as skinny as she is I could have borrowed it!) But anyway, it's the second time she left it here, and we laughed together about how sometimes that is considered to be a high compliment, because it represents a desire to come back for it!

Last night I wore something small and red to bed. Not what you're thinking (ha ha - not talking about THAT way of saying "I love you!") - it was actually a new, red, football mouthguard to help keep me from grinding my teeth at night! I think it's a stress thing, and since I don't want to hurt or lose my teeth, I thought it would be a good idea to start trying. My husband sleeps with a special mouthpiece to help relieve TMJ symptoms (it works really well), and I have always given him a hard time when he tries to talk with that "mumbler" in his mouth. So last night, as I was mumbling myself, we had a laugh about how imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

So sometimes we can say, "I love you" in subtle ways as well as direct ways.

There are many direct ways that God says, "I love you." Countless direct ways, in fact, especially as we count our many blessings. But there are subtle ways, too. For one thing, I have really come to appreciate the refining opportunities that are inherent in any situation of adversity. If we let them, these experiences can help us become more humble, more charitable, more dependent upon the Lord, and more grateful for the good things in life. In other words, we become closer to the One who wants us to draw near unto Him. Maybe that's why some of these experiences are allowed to happen under His careful, watchful eye. These experiences, though very difficult at times, can be rich with blessings.