taken from yoshiko314’s flickr photostream

Each week I leave a short story or video blog here about where I saw love in action during the previous week.  Looking for love in the world around us inspires us to look for love everywhere - especially in our marriages.  Feel free to play along!!!

The past month has been very busy for me.  I am working more than I have in several years, and in addition, I am posting on this blog at least three times a week.  And while I love everything I am doing, I am just a little overcome by the new business!  The other day, I mentioned to Herb how fast my car has become trashed since living a busier lifestyle and making multiple wardrobe changes throughout the day.

Yesterday, I went to Dream Dinners to make some meals for Chad and Allison.  I asked Herb to go to a coffee shop while he waited for me (we went to breakfast first, so he just dropped me off to meet my friend Rachael at the meal place and had an hour or two to kill before picking me up).  My husband tends to set high standards for himself, and he does not like to rest or take care of himself (especially if he would have fun or enjoy the process) until he has met his self-imposed high standards.  This worries me.  So, I asked him to please find a newspaper and go enjoy a coffee for an hour and a half.  After we made the meals, Rachael dropped me off at Cafe Europa.  Herb had a coffee and a paper and was listening to music.

He seemed to have heeded to my request.  Then we walked outside.  My car was clean.  Before going to the coffee shop, Herb washed my car.  He vacuumed it.  He washed the mats.  And then, so as to avoid confusion about why he did it, he said, “I was hoping this was a really practical way of showing you that I love you today.”  Even his thoughtfulness in making that clarification was an act of love, because I have a tendency to interpret these kinds of things to mean, “You are so lazy and slow, so I had to do this FOR YOU or it would NEVER have gotten done!”  But that was no the case.  My man simply heard me as I worried about wondered aloud about how I would possibly get everything done this week, and he approached me in love by responding, “You don’t have to.  I can help.”

Where did YOU see love in action this week???