Ah! Love!: The Five Languages of Love

Every Monday in February, we are focusing on some aspect of love. After all, as the song says, Love is a many splendored thing!

Marriage counselor Gary Chapman has written an amazing book called The Five Love Languages. The premise is simple. There are five primary ways that people express and interpret love. The languages are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.

Problems arise when two people get together and find that they are speaking two different languages.

If your primary language is Quality Time then you appreciate long drives with a partner, spending an evening together, a weekend away or even time spent together watching TV. When your partner spends time with you, you feel loved. When you offer to spend time with your loved one, you expect them to be loved as well. After all, it works for you, right?

Uh-oh.

Your partner's primary language is Acts of Service. He gets your car fixed. He makes sure the lawn is mowed and he picks up after himself at the house. In fact, he's always showing you that he loves you, so much so that he's too busy to want to sit around and talk! He doesn't understand why you don't appreciate him for all he does.

See the problem here?

We speak one language and we naturally assume that our partner speaks that language as well. When they don't, we misinterpret their actions or we feel that our needs aren't being met. We need to know our language but we also need to know our partners as well.

Want to know what love language you're speaking. Take the quiz and find out. Come back and share your results!