Last Friday night Steve and I enjoyed a special birthday present – tickets to the Australian Outback Spectacular, given to us by friends from our parent church, SLE. We had a great time but no, I’m not going to put up a photo of us in our new cowboy hats – you can close your eyes and picture it yourselves.

Anyway, I was mulling about how significant it is for us (and maybe me especially) when church friends give us gifts – this one in particular made me feel very loved and affirmed and ‘thought of’ and we were really touched when we first got the email about it. It made me remember my birthday last year when S gave me a basil plant, and the year before that when the C’s gave us both Crocs (shoes, not animals).

Now I don’t actually think that ‘Giving Gifts’ is one of my top Love Languages and yet, receiving these gifts from church friends has been very significant and memorable for me. I guess gifts are a great way to bless people in ministry given how gifts can so tangibly convey thoughtfulness or thankfulness.

So being on the receiving end of gifts as well as having conversations about this with 5:17ers has made me consider how well we actually know and love each other in our church in specific, thoughtFUL ways – such as knowing each other’s Love Languages and considering carefully how we can ‘speak’ these languages to each other.

In my experience it takes a good deal of time and careful attention to get to know someone’s love language(s) – unless you directly ask which is perfectly fine too. I know that I haven’t gone around and done a survey of fellow 5:17ers though, even while it is our aim and hope that 5:17ers know we love them! (though the primary ways we are able to express this across the board are through prayer and pastoral care and conversation – which I think are forms of acts of service, quality time, and giving gifts)

It’s all made me wonder ultimately, how well we are all going at loving and showing love to our brothers and sisters. I’m encouraged that it has been happening recently as we’ve prayed together over various trials 5:17ers have experienced. But are we leaving some people and some needs and some love languages out? Can we be more careful and considerate about this as individuals and as a church family? Do we have a disposition to love without putting ‘legs’ on that love? Would outsiders look in and see by our love that we are Jesus’ disciples?

What do you think? Please do comment… but I hope you’ll also catch the ‘mulling bug’ and consider with me who you can show love to, by putting your love for them (and God) on legs.