Love Languages, Acts of Service

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”


Matthew 5:16

The bible does an amazing job at teaching us all about the love language of Acts of Service.

Don’t believe me, or just need a little proof.

No Problem!

Here are just a few truths about acts of service.

How about Esther when she saves her people.

Or Daniel when he saves ALL of the wise men by allowing God to work through him to tell the king his dream and then intemperate it.

Or Moses when he faced the Pharaoh to free the Israelites from Egypt.

Or Jesus as he healed so many, washed his disciple’s feet, or died a death that was deserved for our sins?

And these are just a few of the truths that the bible talks about.

Let’s go back to the basics of the 5 love languages and remember there are 5 love languages.

  1.  Physical Touch
  2.   Gifts
  3.  Acts of Service
  4.   Quality Time
  5.   Words of Affirmation

As you might have guessed today we are going to talk about the language of Acts of Service.

What is an act of service?

Well, there are many different ways to describe one, but for me, it is the act of serving someone else for a reason that does not benefit you in any form.

When we serve someone else for our benefit, then it is not truly an act of service. One good example would be if I serve Jenna so that she will buy something amazing, or let me buy something that I want. It would not be an act of service.

Or if we’re to serve my boss so that I could get a raise. (again that’s Jenna. Lol) Now if I serve them all the time, it is different than doing a few acts of service to get something I want.

When we need an act of service to fill our love tanks, usually we are really good at speaking in that language too.

My mother-in-law is a great example of someone who absolutely loves acts of service.  And yes she speaks that language avidly.

Every time I see her or she comes over to visit she is constantly busy.  She is washing dishes, dusting something, or folding clothes. She sees a need and fills that need. My Grandma Greer is the exact same way.

As a kid, my Grandma was always willing to take care of someone who needed it.  If you came over to their house close to a meal, you were going to eat. Even if you just finished breakfast 10 minutes ago.

I remember this one time I was a teenager and we had some family up from Texas visiting. They were staying at our house but stopped to say goodbye to my grandparents. I followed them up to her house the morning they were getting ready to leave. I should mention that we just finished a HUGE breakfast of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. When we got to her house she was just cracking eggs into the skillet for breakfast and asked how many we wanted?

Without hesitation, we all answered just one or 2. 

And guess what?

We sat down and ate those eggs to fill her love tank. She loves to serve others.

On the same note that is how her tank is filled. She absolutely loved it as kids when we would go up to her house and make apple cider. We would all sit around cutting apples and making cider all day. One time we made over 100 gallons of cider in one day. It was quite the day.

What are some other ways that you can tell if someone needs acts of service other than if they speak it fluently?

One way is that you can feel their joy when you do something for them! I mean FEEL their joy. Have you ever done something for someone and you could feel their smile? I have and let me tell you, that feeling fills my tank.

Another way is trying to do something for them and seeing their reaction. If they brush it off then they might need many acts of service to fill their tank.

When I first read the 5 love languages I started experimenting with them at work. For acts of service, I took the simplest tasks to see if that was someone’s language.

The task I picked the most was¦..

Taking their stuff to them from the copier.

Sooooo simple, yet it provided me with the most insight into acts of service.

Every time I printed something I would see if there were other documents there and then grab them and them to their owners.

If the owner was truly happy that I brought them the documents I could feel it.

If they didn’t care I could feel that too.  Maybe an empty thank you, or I even had one person get upset that I grabbed their documents. What are you doing going through my stuff??? 

I just brushed that last comment off though.

You see, Acts of Service can be super simple to speak. And extremely easy to tell if someone needs that language to fill their tank.

Take Action

Time to take action.

This week your mission is to list 5 people close and 5 people, not so close that need acts of service to fill their tank.

Don’t stop there though take a few moments to figure out how you can speak their language and fill their tank.

Last, do you need acts of service to fill your tank? I definitely like them a little (especially massages, hint, hint Jenna. Lol)

Prayer

 

Lord, God thank you for giving us the insight to speak other languages. Especially love languages. Lord today we pray that you help us to learn other languages besides our own. Not only to learn them but also learn to speak them to the people who need them.

God, we pray that you help us to grow with you, grow in you, and grow in ways that we never imagined possible. God, we are so grateful that you give us wisdom beyond what we ever imagined, we are also grateful that you guide our steps to bring us close to you.

Lord today we have full hearts and know that is because you help us in every aspect of life. God, we pray that you continue to help us learn, continue to help us give, and continue to let us see how we can serve others. Lord, you are amazing and we know that we are amazing and sometimes we forget that.

Please remind us every day just how amazing you made us, how amazing we are, especially when we live our lives God First! Lord, we pray that you help us all to share the message that you need us to share, no matter what that message is. No matter how hard it might be shared.

No matter how scared I might be to share it. Give us the strength and courage to share your message! Give us the strength to speak the language of acts of service to others! Lord, we ask all these things in your precious son’s name.

Amen

 


A Little More


Recently we were at a family gathering. Just our family, my brother’s family, and my parents.

We were having a great time and to top it off it had just snowed the day before.

After dinner, we broke out a game or 2 and started playing. Everyone was having a good time.

That was when my middle son Nathen broke into a song that had us all rolling on the floor with laughter.

It went something like this:

Deck the slope with babes in tight pants

Fa la la la la, la la la la (fa la la la la, la la la la)

Dad thinks he gonna get some romance

Fa la la la la, la la la la (fa la la la la, la la la la)

No, he’s not cause he’s too ugly!

Fa la la la la, la la la la, fa la la la la, la la la la

They will all be in my room cute and snugly

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha, ha, ha

That pretty much sums up Nathen to a tee.

There was also this time when we were getting ready for Christmas Eve service at our church and I told the kids they could wear their jammies if they wanted to.

The thing I forgot was that the kid in our house that wears PJs is Brianna. The boys follow their father’s example and just sleep in their underwear.

I know a little too much info,

But it adds to the story.

Anyways, right after I had told them this. Jacob came out of his room looking for something to wear and without missing a beat Nathen says, Jacob you are gonna be cold if you go in those to the Christmas eve service.

Then right on queue Jacob stops dead in his tracks and strikes a pose and says, No way I am gonna rock this at church tonight!

Don’t stop reading yet it gets better.

So Jacob runs off and finds some clothes to wear and Nathen comes out of his room in a t-shirt and sweats goes into my closet where he proceeds to grab a corduroy jacket and the ugliest Christmas tie ever, puts them on over his clothes and comes back out to the living room

Where Jacob looks at him and says, You look like something the dog barfed up!

I am on the floor laughing holding my stomach because I’m about to explode.

While Jenna overheard the comment and is about to explode the other way. We can literally see steam coming out of her ears.

Then Nathen turns around, towards Jenna, strikes a pose, and says, What do you think mama bear?

Jenna goes straight from steam to rolling on the ground laughing and says, Nathen you are one of a kind, no go change!

You are probably thinking Dan these are cute little stories but why are you telling them to us?

Well,

I really wanted to share these with everyone because hopefully it will humble us and encourage us not to get angry so fast, but instead, have a quick-witted comeback that brings humor to an otherwise tense situation.

One last little story that I will remember forever.

At my grandfather’s funeral just a few months ago the preacher, Bud. Someone who has known our family for years and years. Was giving the service and it was a full house.

Dad counted more than 400 in our little church (it was standing room only).

Anyways.

Bud opens the service with prayer then looks around and knows my grandpa very well. Says, I’m not going to say this, oh the heck with it, Pat would have said it so I guess I will too.

We are open on Sundays too!

You see Bud took a tense, grieving situation and brought laughter to it. That is something that we all should strive to do.

Look for opportune times to listen to what God is telling us to say, then have the courage to say it.

From our house to yours

May God bless every endeavor you choose to take!


Will you pray with us?

Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation

All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel

For all military personal serving our country and their families

Those in Leadership positions throughout the world