The DIY Guide To Building A Family That Lasts - A 6-Day DevotionalSample

Home improvement goal: 

Remove apathy.

Home improvement tool:

Cultivate love.

We don’t typically mean to be apathetic or uncaring. In fact, many people I work with think they are being loving. However, their loved ones feel unloved and uncared for. How can this be? How can one person think they’re communicating love while the other person feels unloved? It’s almost as if they’re speaking two different languages!

Karolyn and I encountered this miscommunication problem early in our marriage, and I recognized this same problem for so many other couples I counseled. From those experiences came my book The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts, which has since sold millions of copies worldwide, demonstrating that people want and need to express heartfelt love to one another. Let me share a brief overview of the five love languages concept.

The five love languages are five ways to express love emotionally.

Words of Affirmation—The words may focus on how they look, something they did for you, their personality, or anything you admire about them.

Receiving Gifts—The gifts need not be expensive. The gift says, “They were thinking about me.”

Quality Time—Giving the person your undivided attention. It may involve extended conversations or doing a project together.

Acts of Service—Doing something you know they would like for you to do, such as washing dishes, vacuuming the floors, or helping a child with a project.

Physical Touch—Hugs, kisses, high fives, etc.

Imagine treating each other with the love of 1 Corinthians 13. In fact, why not let this be your family’s blueprint for increasing love at home? The passage defines love in a clear and thorough way. There are no mixed messages, and there are no unrealistic conditions about what we should or shouldn’t do to be loving. No! Instead, this classic statement brings together everything good we’ve ever learned about love. It stretches us to be our best to each other, and that is when love flourishes.