There are times when we are timid and shy about expressing the love we feel.For fear of embrassing the other person,or ourselves, we hesitate to say the actual words 'I Love You'.So we try to communicate the idea in other words.We say take care or don't drive too fast or be good.But really these are just other ways of saying i love you.You are important to me.I care what happens to you.I don't want you to get hurt.We are sometimes very strange people.The only thing We want to say, and the one thing we don't say.And yet because the feeling is so real, and the need to say it is so strong.We are driven to use other words and signs to say what we really mean.And many times the meaning never gets communicated at all and the other person is left feeling unloved and unwanted . Therefore ,we have to listen for love in the words that people are saying to us.Sometimes the explicit words are necessary,but more often, the manner of saying things is even more important.A joyous insult carries more affection and love within the sentiments which are expressed insincerely.An impulsive hug says 'i love you' even though the words might be saying very different.Any expressions of a person's concern for another says i love you.Sometimes the expression is clumsy, sometimes even cruel .Sometimes we must look and listen very intently for that love that contains.But it is often there, beneath the surface.
A mother may nag her son constantly about his room.The son may hear only the nagging but if he listens carefully he will hear the love underneath the nagging.His mother wants him to do well,to be successful.Her concern and love for her son unfortunately emerge in her nagging.But it is love all the same.A daughter comes home late, way past her curfew, and her father confronts her with angry words. The daughter may hear only the anger, but if she listens carefully, she will hear the love under the anger. I was worried about you the father is saying. We say i love you in many ways - with birthday gifts and little notes, with smiles and sometimes, we show our love by just keeping quite and not saying a word, at other times by speaking out, even brusquely.We show our love sometimes by impulsiveness. Many times we have to show our love by forgiving someone who has not listened to the love we have tired to express.
