faith

I babysit a couple of 2-year-olds on Tuesday mornings. Usually it's chaotic and happy and lovely because everything is new to them. And they are excited about everything. Everything warrants a celebration because they have figured out what it is and how to say it and how to appreciate it. Most of the time, it's the highlight of may week.
But today things were a little more stressful than usual. They were discovering things that were potentially dangerous and all of a sudden they were both in tears and I wasn't exactly sure why. I think one fell down and one just felt like crying or something. It all happened at once. So I picked up the little girl and asked her what was wrong. When she finally calmed down enough to tell me that she hurt her tummy. I asked if I should rub her tummy and she said yes. So I did and then asked her if it felt better. No.
"What should we do to make it better?" I asked. She stopped crying and looked at me and said, "Maybe we should pray about it."
And it was just the most moving thing. Obviously that's the best thing to do. And this little girl knew that praying would help. So we sat right there on the couch and, me holding back tears, we prayed for her tummy. After we prayed, the rest of the morning went just fine. Everyone was happy again. Everything went smoothly.
I was having a frustrating morning, but thanks to the faith of this toddler, I was reminded of the power of Jesus. And, of course, none of this is up to me. It's all up to him.

love languages

It's Valentine's Day and I'm writing a blog post about love. Predictable.
But anyway, I spend a lot of time analyzing my personality and recently I've been interested in the 5 Love Languages. The 5 Love Languages are how people give and receive love. They are: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch. (If you're curious, you can take a quiz at www.5lovelanguages.com)
Anyway, I took this quiz the other day and my top love language is Words of Affirmation, closely followed by Quality Time. I was a little surprised by this at first (I thought #1 would be Acts of Service, but we'll get to that), but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. I need people to tell me that they love me. Even if they help me out and give me gifts and hug me, I need people to tell me how they feel about me or there's this little voice of doubt in my head. If they haven't said that they value me, I start to wonder if I mean anything to them at all. And I know this is probably a little bit irrational on my part, but that's how I feel loved.
The Quality Time one didn't surprise me. When I love someone, I want to spend as much time as possible with that person. This may seem rather counter-intuitive for an introvert, but it's really not. I love (and need) to spend one-on-one time with people that I love. I feel so close to people when we have spent hours just being together and talking, enjoying each other's company.
I was surprised that Acts of Service wasn't my top love language. It wasn't even in the top three. I was surprised because I am a very service-oriented person and the way I show others that I love them is by offering to help them. But this doesn't work in reverse for me. I feel like a burden when others help me. I don't feel loved; I feel like a charity case. I mean, it's great when people can help when I ask for a favor, but I often feel uncomfortable when people offer to do things for me. This is something I should probably work on, but right now, it's not how I feel loved.
I just thought this was all interesting. And if you want to make sure that I know that you love me, tell me. Because it means a lot to me to hear that people love and appreciate me.
And now I feel like a jerk for writing a blog post telling people to tell me that they love me. Which wasn't my intent, but here we are.