Going Out of My Head...I mean, ...Way...

As many of you know, Nick and I have been teaching a Young Marrieds Adult Sunday School class at our church. Many of our discussions have touched on "love" being an action word. We have also stressed the importance of exactly how we show love to coworkers, friends, and aquaintences. And because it's sort of odd to talk about "loving" the creep in the next cubicle (holla, Bethany!), we redefined it as "caring" about said person.

But I realized the other day, with help from my dear friend Jessie, that the easiest way for most people to feel they are loved is to see that someone has gone out of their way to care for them. This can include a physical "going out of their way," in the sense that they had to relocate themselves in order to be near you or to do something for you, or to mentally "go out of their way" to actively listen to someone or interact in a discussion with you.

At first, this seemed too simple, but then I thought about the times I have felt loved by my friends, and each of these times included people "going out of their way" for me. And, on the flip side, the times I have felt unloved are times when people are "too busy" to help, or have ignored me for a time. And I have found that the easiest way to fix this is to actively go out of my way for that person.

So go out of your way for someone- it might fix a long standing rivalry or disagreement, or just reconnect you with someone, or merely show someone you see every day that you care. And it's always good to give people a little glimmer of love.