Love is More than Three Words

As I recover from childbirth, I offer a guest post from my daughter, Shannon.

Love is More than Three Words

As a teenager and high school student, you can bet that I hear the words "I love you" thrown around a lot. For a teenager to say "I love you" is just as normal as a cat drinking milk, or a soccer mom biting at games. But what does it mean when a person says it? And what is it supposed to mean?

Being a teenage girl, there's nothing in the world I want more than to be in love. Because to us, love is the end goal. It's the final destination, where we can really be happy. Now, I've had my share of boyfriends who've said, "I love you" to me. My first was saying it after we'd been dating for a grand total of six hours. But I don't think that really meant that they did. Each one meant something along the lines of "I love you because you're here", "I love you because we're together", 'I love you because you're pretty", and one of my favorites, "I love you because I'm supposed to".

But that's not what love is.

If you can sum up the whole of your feelings in one sentence, it's not love. If you can sum it up in one hundred, it's not love. Because love isn't just something you talk about. It's something you do.

Opening the door for her is love. Telling her that it'll all be okay is love. Showing all your friends how proud you are to be dating her is love. Spending hours in earnest discussion about your favorite topics is love. There are so many actions that express love; it's no wonder that it just can't be said through words.

I'm waiting for the day to come along when someone loves me like that. And he won't have to say a word to me for me to know it. What he does will be enough.