What makes you feel loved? This is a question I’ve been pondering lately because my husband has been asked to give a talk at our church’s monthly men’s breakfast, and marriage is the topic he chose. Of course, this question isn’t exclusive to married people or those in a romantic relationship (and if you’re married, I pray it’s a romantic relationship), but for everyone. Love is such a universal emotion—we feel it for our spouses, children, siblings, friends and even our co-workers. The list goes on.
Relationships are important, and being able to effectively express our feelings is the first hurdle to understanding each other better. With this in mind, I’ve studied several books on the subject over the last several years: Love & Respect by Emerson Eggerichs, Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas, The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman and others. All of these books cover love within the context of marriage, but the same principles can be applied to any relationship. In fact, there is now The Five Love Languages for Children, The Five Love Languages for Teens and The Five Love Languages for Singles.
When Chris chose to speak on marriage, he had to hone it down to a couple of key areas and decided his topic will be “How a Husband is to Love and Lead His Wife.” He started pouring over the above books and realized that there’s a reason so many books have been written on the subject—it has tremendous breadth.
I’m fortunate that when he’s given an assignment such as this, he asks for my input. This time, he asked if I’d do an informal survey among my friends, and I thought what better way to gather information than from my faithful readers. So, I’m asking all of you out there, whether married or single:
What makes you feel loved?
If you could answer this question in the comments section of this blog, it will be tremendously appreciated—and you will be instrumental in helping Chris communicate the needs of women to his audience.
