I carry in my wallet an old, yellowed, wrinkled and tattered business card of mine from 1994. On the back of that business card I have 4 names: Sue, Nate, Meg and Colin. Why in the world would a man carry around a card with the names of his own family members on the back of it? Did I forget their names?? What's up?
Under each name I have listed each person's "Language of Love". I've used it to help me prepare myself for family holidays ("So, how can I show my love for ...), for times of helping others repair from the pain of my angry outbursts ("I need to ask forgiveness in the following fashion to ...) and for so many other times of quietly and effectively saying "I love you" to each of my family members in a language (or languages) they can understand:
Words of encouragement.
Quality time.
Physical touch.
Acts of service.
And Gifts.
And it is Gary Chapman who "wrote the book" on this issue with his now-famous " The Five Love Languages" - now having sold over 5 million copies.
People buy the book, year after year, because it helps new families year after year...book edition after book edition.
And today Gary signed that old card of mine, as I had some time with him during a video shoot in Eagle, ID - and he used words of encouragement in his note to me...hmmm (How did he know?)
I thanked Gary for gaining me these many years of sanity because of his book...and the resultant incredible communications among my family members, too.
He was thoughtfully thankful for my comments. He is a kind and very gracious man. He is now a friend of mine and I am thankful.
If you are a lifetime learner and have never heard of Gary Chapman or his book(s), please investigate his works.
Den
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