Click to listen to James Taylor
Do you know the James Taylor song “Shower the People”? What a great song. It’s an encouragement to not be afraid to tell the people you love how you feel about them – let them know you care.
“…shower the people you love with love, show them the way you feel. Things are gonna be much better if you only will.”
Isn’t that the truth? Things are much better when we actually communicate how we feel about people – if we will communicate how much we appreciate and love them. I experienced a great example of that this week…
My cell phone rang mid-morning. I looked down to see who was calling. Lo and behold, it was a former client and friend whom I hadn’t spoken to for over 2 years. When I left the industry in which we had met, we just lost touch. Our lives had intersected over the course of the 2 years I had been involved in his industry probably 3-4 times each year, and each time we seemed to connect at deep level. The Lord had done something in our hearts in that short period of time.
Even though we hadn’t spoken over the course of the last few years he has continued to receive my weekly visionals. And, one landed in his cell phone this particular morning when he was in a Chicago skyscraper about to go into a very important meeting.
“Dave, hey brother, I know we haven’t seen each other or spoken for ages, but your email popped up on my phone as I’m waiting to go into a meeting and I just wanted to call you and tell you how much I appreciate you…”
He then went on to “shower me with love”. I was blown away.
He simply shared how I had always been an encouragement to him and how, in particular, my writing had often spoken directly to his heart. He shared a number of very kind, appreciative and encouraging words. As I said, I was gobsmacked. It was awesome.
After a few minutes he indicated that he had to get into his meeting. I asked if I could quickly pray for him – he said yes. I prayed for him. He said, “Dude, you just made my day.”
“Are you kidding, you just made my week!” I replied.
A simple interaction, but I was so blown away by his kindness – I took courage from his encouragement. Man did I feel good!
“…shower the people you love with love, show them the way you feel. Things are gonna be much better if you only will.”
Things are waaaaay better if we shower the people we love with love. My friend’s phone call was a fabulous example of that!
So, who do you need to shower with love? Who do you need to call or write or visit and let them know how much they mean to you? And, who is there in your world that you need to make a point of regularly sharing your heart with? Don’t wait for their funeral to tell them how much they mean, or have meant, to you. Don’t live in regret knowing that could have said something and you didn’t.
Why is it that we are reticent to share our love for others? What are we afraid of?
I think it’s ok to have a bit of a scale of “love” for others. Perhaps the levels are Appreciation, then Gratitude, then Affection, then Love. If you dive right into overtly communicating love for some people they might get freaked out. Start with appreciation, then add some gratitude, then a little affection, then when appropriate overtly communicate love.
All of it is expressing love in one form or another, but our language can be adjusted accordingly. You can communicate love to you wife in a way that would be totally inappropriate for a co-worker. And, conversely, if you only communicate appreciation for your wife without overtly communicating love, you are missing something.
My point is simply this: let’s be prodigal communicators of appreciation, gratitude, affection and love for others.
Let’s shower the people we love with love – things will work our fine if we only will.
John 13:34
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
1 Thessalonians 3:12
“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”
1 Peter 1:22
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”