Loving People Well

Today I was doing some deep thinking about loving people well. What does that mean? Well, here's the thing... in my ten years of life I've come to understand everyone feels loved in different ways. For instance, some people feel loved when their family spends quality time with them or goes out of their way to say something really nice (words of affirmation). Others feel loved when their human remembers the exact type of bone they like and bring it home from the store (receiving gifts). Others feel love by being pet and scratched behind the ears (physical touch) or when someone does something nice for them (acts of service). Or, you could be like me and feel loved spending quality time with my people, while being scratched behind the ears, while being told I'm a super good boy, while my mom caters to my every whim, and while chewing on a new bone from the store. Some say I'm high maintenance. I say I just like to keep my humans on their toes.

From my experience, I've noticed things start to get a little mixed up when family members are unclear how to show love in the language their partners/kids/dogs understand. Some try to show love by the method they wish to receive. That doesn't usually work out too well. If I know one of my family members feels loved by acts of service, I'm not going to buy her an ice cream sandwich. That makes no sense. I'm also not going to constantly say how great she is and expect her to feel loved. I'm going to get off my couch and go do something for her! Loving people well require sacrifice. It's not always easy, but seeing them smile makes it worth the effort.

Any idea how you could love your family/friends well today?