I have seen a grown man weep from hearing these 3 Little Words from an estranged son or daughter that finally came back home. I have seen crying toddlers stop mid scream from hearing the soothing 3 Little Words from their mother as she lovingly wiped away their tears. I have also seen a complete transformation of peace come to a dying mother as her children softly whispered these 3 Little Words. Or have you ever seen an arguing couple see a glimmer of hope of restoration as one or the other stopped arguing and said the 3 Little Words? What are these POWERFUL, LIFE TRANSFORMING, LIFE SUSTAINING 3 Little Words? You guessed it, the words are “I LOVE YOU”

Many times we take for granted our loved ones who have been placed in our lives know how much we love them. We say, “I show them I love them every day by what I do.” “They have got to know I love them as much as I give them.” Not, necessarily so! People need to, crave to, desperately await to hear the words, “I Love YOU” I want to give you an example of something that happened to me that caused me to think about the 3 Little Words in an entirely different way. I was speaking at a program to a group of 9th grade students at a school. At the end the presentation, this is what I said to them, “I want all of you to know I LOVE YOU. I know some of you have never heard these words, and may feel unloved. I know some of you act out, are angry, and are hurt because you feel invisible due to not hearing these words. But, know that I LOVE YOU, want the best for you, and am not going to give up in believing you can succeed.” As the program ended students quickly passed by me to return to class. One 14 year old small-framed girl walked up to me and said, “I have never heard those words. At that moment it hit me like a ton of bricks. No one has said these 3 Little Words to her. As I stared at her, frozen in my tracks she again said, “I have never heard I love you.” I looked directly at her, gave a bear hug, I said, “I love you.” I know this may sound strange that at 14 year old girl had never been told by a mother or father that she was loved. I choose to look at it like this; what if the 14 year old girl’s mother grew up in a home where she was never told the 3 Little Words? How would the mother know the importance of the 3 Little Words? The mother is going to struggle in some ways in trying to give her daughter something she has never experienced herself, she may not even see the need to say I LOVE YOU to her daughter. The little girl’s father was not in the home, in fact she had never met him.

For some of you, you could have grown up in a home where you never heard the words uttered at all; it’s just something that did not occur in your home. Although, you may have felt loved, I am sure you would have loved to hear the words. Some of you may feel saying “I LOVE YOU” is too mushy, and you do not categorize yourself as this type of person. Mushy or not, you would be amazed if you said these 3 Little Words to the people you love, to an elderly person who feels alone, to your children and those children who have been divinely placed in your life. If you are person who does not normally say the 3 Little Words, it may feel strange, and a little funny at first, but keep saying it and it will feel like second nature to you. Watch how you feel when you are telling someone you love them--------- It begins to change you in a positive way as well. Please never simply assume people know you love them because sometimes they truly don’t.

My grandmother who I loved dearly always said, “Give me my flowers while I am living, don’t wait until I die and fill the church with tons of flowers.” “Let me see the beauty now.” That was her special way of saying treasure me, tell me you love me while I can hear and treasure those special words. I now have a very special adopted grandma who every time I am around her or in her presence it never fails before we part to go our separate ways she says, “ I love you so much” I always smile, almost laugh, and say, “ I love you too.”

There is a thought provoking book I read that has been life changing for me, and I wouldn’t dare end this blog without sharing it with you. The book is by Gary Chapman entitled, The 5 Love Languages. This book is offered for couples, parents, and singles. It outlines and teaches you about the 5 ways we receive love. You take a test/survey that helps you to identify the one or two dominant ways you receive love best, and the way you typically show love to others. The 5 ways are acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, receiving gifts, and physical touch. For me, my two dominant ways that I like to receive love are quality time (spending quality time together), and acts of service (doing things you know I love; this could be the smallest of thing – it just matters that you took time to extend yourself to do it). If this interests you I am sure the book is available on Amazon, or at other retail book stores. It is a great read.

So, you know I am going to challenge you with this! I challenge you to if you haven’t begin to tell those people in your family,

“I LOVE YOU”. If you are courageous enough begin to tell others not in your family but are an important part of your life, how much you love them.

REMEMBER OUR GOAL IS TO STRIVE TO BE OUR BEST IN ALL AREAS

Watch the beauty of what unfolds as you tell someone YOU LOVE THEM!!