About Us
Brandon & Jennifer Bruce: We live in Lansing, Michigan where Brandon is the senior pastor at Faith Church. Jennifer was an elementary school teacher for 5 years, but now enjoys being a full-time mom. We try to see our life as a great adventure! We enjoy our weekly date night, love being around people, and love to travel together. We were married on June 28, 2002, both graduated from college at Indiana Wesleyan University, and have now also completed our masters degrees. We've been blessed with two little boys named Jaylon Christian Bruce and Kylan Jackson Bruce! God has been so good to us!
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Saturday, October 06, 2007
A Love That Speaks To Anyone
In 1992, Gary Chapman's landmark book, "The Five Love Languages", was published. If you're not familiar with the book, CLICK HERE for a summary from the 5 Love Languages website! He basically says that there are five unique languages of love, or ways that we give and receive love.1. Words of Affirmation
2. Quality Time
3. Receiving Gifts
4. Acts of Service
5. Physical Touch
I consistently recommend this book to couples getting married, but I think it could also be marriage-shaping for the husband and wife that have been together for 25 years. The strength of Chapman's love languages comes in their power to help us understand that we tend to give love in the same way we like to receive it (despite what others really need). For example, one individual may feel most loved when they receive 'words of affirmation' and so they will tend to share love through affirming others. However, the others in their life may best feel loved through 'acts of service' or 'quality time'. Therefore, others may not feel as much love. These people were speaking a different language of love.
This concept has opened up the eyes of so many couples and helped teach us how to communicate love more effectively.
Although we each have our own ways of giving and receiving love, I wonder if there are ways that we communicate love that are so powerful... they speak to everyone? I wonder if there are languages of love that speak so profound a message that all who come in contact feel it? Could it be possible that every one of us... no matter what age, ethnicity, or gender... understands love when it is shared in this language? If so, what is that language? I'm glad you asked. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but I've briefly listed three of the words that are often spoken in that language below.
1. Selflessness - When it's clear to another person that we have tried so fervently to express love, that we have abandoned our own desires... that kind of love moves people. If it's clear we're sharing love with no other agenda... to love without motives for getting anything in return...that speaks with clarity! If we get to a place where we can put the needs of someone else in front of our own needs, that speaks love to anyone who will listen.
2. Intentionality - If we will go out of our way to communicate love on purpose, it resounds in the heart of those we love. When a husband or wife puts forethought into a romantic evening together, it shows that they care. When a friend writes an unsolicited note of encouragement to another, it shows that they consider the friendship valuable. In whatever love language we're trying to speak... the fact that we're putting forth significant effort that we didn't need to trumps any doubts of our love.
One way to become more intentional is to unleash your God-given creativity. I wrote more about that in my article, How To Use Your Creativity.
3. Sacrifice - Perhaps the greatest expression of love is when one individual sacrifices for another. To willingly allow our love for another to surpass our desire to be comfortable... the rhythm of that drum can be heard from any distance. Unquestionably, the person in human history that has spread the message of love around the planet more than any other, was Jesus Christ. He was quoted as saying, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (The Bible, John 15:13). Sacrificial love's linguistic equivalent would be shouting our love from the roof tops!
If we could communicate love in the language of the other person... and then do it selflessly, intentionally, and sacrificially... maybe that kind of love would change the world. Maybe it already has...
Pictures Taken By Brandon & Jennifer In The Black Hills Of South Dakota
Links to more of Brandon's articles...
5 Thoughts From 5 Years of Marriage
The Fuel Of Passion
Savoring The Beauty Of Every Day
Finding More Time
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