Here is something I wrote this past January, I stumbled across it and thought I should share it!
Many people have heard of finding your “Love Language”. All it takes is a short quiz to determine how you give a receive love the best. Aside from gaining an interesting fact about yourself, this can benefit you and your relationships because you understand your emotional needs. For me, I enjoy words of affirmation, a kind word or acknowledgement means much more to me than a gift. If this quiz does anything, it shows how everyone sees a simple thing like love differently. Someone may not feel truly loved until you approach it in a certain way that speaks to them personally.
I’ve recently thought about this in term of my spiritual life. For a long time, I knew I was a Christian and God was real, but I didn’t truly feel it. I admired and was even intimidated by people of strong faith because they seemed to have it all figured out. No doubt in their mind, God was number one and nothing was going to challenge their beliefs. I would sit in church and find my mind wandering to where I was going to go for lunch or the homework assignment due tomorrow. I never left feeling a connection with God.
Luckily I have found ways to strengthen my connection with God; I call these my “God Languages”. I asked myself what are the things that cause me to feel God the most? Over time I have discovered the beauty of music and intentional discussion. At my church we begin the service with worship music that always leaves me with goosebumps. I am not a singer aside from solos in my car, but on Sundays, I sing my heart out. Why? Because it makes me feel closer to God.
Intentional discussion. This is a fancy way of saying conversations that go below the surface. Digging deeper than the Hi, how are you? Or the most recent gossip. Having a group of people to open up to and bring my worries and short comings to is so liberating. I used to be scared to go to big churches because I felt like just a number, and that I could never have a faith strong enough to compare to my peers. What I have learned is we are all coming up short, God knows it, we know it, and we are not alone.
Another important part of these intentional conversations is it gives others permission to open up as well. They are much more likely to tell you about their failures and anxieties when they see the cracks in your foundation as well. This opens a door to be honest about our questions and concerns when it comes to life and our faith.
God doesn’t ask us to show up everyday, cleanly shaven in our best digs. He asks us to bring our true selves to the table, bruised, imperfect, and full of questions. If we ever think we have something too big in our life for God to handle or too bad for him to forgive, we are giving ourselves too much credit.
Back to our God languages, first, we all need to realize the opportunity and importance of creating a relationship with God. Then, we have to figure out how we feel that the most. Try different spiritual disciplines and find the ones that leave you with goosebumps, filled with so much faith you cant wait to share it with others. Find the ones that make you grateful to have such a loving Father, and when you do, keep doing it! Share God through these God languages, even if you aren’t great at it. If you feel God through reading scripture or prayer, start speaking the Gospel to people and praying for others. It may not be flawless or poetic, but it will be real and meaningful because it is authentic.
