Listening For Love
There are times when we are timid and shy about expressing the love we
feel. For fear of embarrassing the other person, or ourselves, we hesitate
to say the actual words 'I love you.' So we try to communicate the idea in
other words. We say take care or don't drive too fast or be good.
But really, these are just other ways of saying I love you. You are
important to me. We are sometimes very strange people. The only thing we
want to say, and the one thing that we should say, is the one thing we don't
say. And yet because the feeling is so real, and the need to say it is so
strong, we are driven to use other words and the meaning never gets
communicated at all so the other person is left feeling unloved and
unwanted.
Therefore, we have to listen for love in the words that people are
saying to us. Sometimes the explicit words are necessary, but more often,
the manner of saying things is even more important. A joyous insult carries
more affection and love within the sentiments which are expressed
insincerely. An impulsive hug says 'I love you' even though the words might
be saying very different.
The problem is listening for love is that we don't always understand the
language of love which the other person is using. A girl may use tears or
emotions to say what she wants to say, and her boyfriend may not understand
her because he expects her to be talking his language.
We have to listen for love in those around us. If we listen intently we will
discover that we are a lot more loved than we realise.
Listen for love and you will find that the world is a very loving place
