Do you ever catch yourself (or your spouse) saying, “If you loved me you’d help with the laundry every now and then”? Maybe “Geez, is anyone going to do laundry around here”? Or perhaps something very similar concerning dishes, vacuuming, dusting, or other daily chores?  If so, odds are your Love Language is Acts of Service!

A few weeks ago I first wrote about  Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages, Words of Affirmation, and how speaking your spouse’s Love Language can impact your relationship positively. Today we are talking about a completely different Love Language, Acts of Service. For someone who’s love language includes service oriented tasks, taking out the garbage can earn you huge points!

You may be asking yourself, “How do I know mine or my spouses Love Language”?  Well, what do you complain about the most?  What is your spouse critical of the most?  We know that no one loves complaints and criticism, but what if we looked at it with a magnifying glass? What if instead of taking offense, we used it as a roadmap to understand each other and in turn invest in our spouse and our relationship?  And yes, it is possible to have more than one Love Language! Actually, odds are you have a Primary and a Secondary!

Some Acts of Service to help you out:

• Washing the dishes
• Vacuuming the carpet
• Mowing the grass
• Washing, drying, AND folding the laundry
• Cooking dinner
• Taking over watching the kids (give mom/dad an hour or more out of the house) !!!
• Changing diapers
• Dusting

Even if you or your spouse’s Love Language isn’t Acts of Service, when we help each other out, everybody wins! Go ahead, do something for your spouse today! It won’t cost you a thing but a little bit of energy! I would challenge you to make it a goal to continually increase in Acts for your spouse. Think of it as an investment that pays off in both spiritual, emotional, and physical rewards! Who wouldn’t want to invest in that?

To read our first post on this topic, please visit here.

To get your own copy of The 5 Love Languages

*What are some other ways you can think of to help your spouse?  I’d love to hear your comments below!