The One Year Love Language Minute Devotional

THE ONE YEAR O

LOVE

LANGUAGE

MINUTE

GARY CHAPMAN

I'VE BEEN PRIVILEGED to counsel couples for more than thirty years, and in that time I've seen my share of marital struggles. But what I've also seen, time and time again, is the power of God to transform relationships. When two people commit to each other-and especially when they commit to communicating love to each other through the five love languages-positive change occurs.

Because my background is in marriage counseling, I tend to use the language of marriage when I write. Some of the issues I address are marriage specific. However, if you're a dating or engaged couple, I hope you will read this book too. There is plenty of helpful information for you as well. The building blocks of marriage-such as good communication, respect, unconditional love, and forgiveness-are foundational to any romantic relationship. And learning to identify and speak your loved one's love language will benefit a couple at any stage.

You can use this devotional individually, or sit down together as a couple to read it each day. Use the prayer at the end of each devotion as a starting point for your own prayer-whether you pray silently together or aloud, one at a time. In just a minute or two every day, you can discover encouraging biblical insights.

Whether your relationship is strong or struggling, stable or challenging, my prayer is that this devotional will encourage you and give you renewed joy in each other. May your relationship be strengthened this year as you focus on loving and growing together.

Gary Chapman

Three things will last forever faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love. Let love be your highest goal! 1 CORINTHIANS 13:13-14:1

AFTER THIRTY YEARS of counseling couples, I'm convinced there are five different ways we speak and understand emotional love-five love languages. Each of us has a primary love language; one of the five speaks to us more profoundly than the other four.

Seldom do a husband and wife have the same love language. We tend to speak our own language, and as a result, we completely miss each other. Oh, we're sincere. We're even expressing love, but we're not connecting emotionally.

Sound familiar? Love doesn't need to diminish over time. The end of the famous "love chapter" of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, says that love is of great value and will last forever. In fact, the apostle Paul says that love should be our highest goal. But if you're going to keep love alive, you need to learn a new language. That takes discipline and practice-but the reward is a lasting, deeply committed relationship.

Lord, thank you for creating each of us so differently. Keep me from assuming that my partner thinks and feels the way I do. Please give me the patience to find out how I can most effectively communicate love to my spouse.