As I’m growing older, my definition of love keeps changing . . . 

Love is the way my husband holds my hair back or rubs my back when my body is overcome with morning sickness as our baby grows.

Love is the way my husband tells me I’m beautiful when I’m a hot mess—which is normally all the time.

Love is the way my mom checks on me and the kids and asks me how I’m really feeling.

Love is the way my husband always fills up my gas tank and opens the car door for me.

Love is the way my mom checks on her children and ministers to them in their current walks of life. Not every child has the same personality, and she meets us in our own unique love languages. It is something I’m really growing to appreciate and pray to continue doing for each of my children as they grow older so they know just how important they are.

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Love is the way my son says “You are my best friend” about 400 times a day.

Love is the way my sister tells me like it is.

Love is the way my 4-year-old says “It’s OK, mommy, we all mess up sometimes” when I apologize for losing my cool.

Love is the way my mom finds out my pregnancy craving and sends a gift card from hundreds of miles away.

Love is the way my husband sends an “I love you babe” text from the firehouse when he’s on 24-hour shifts. He knows just how much it means to me to know he’s safe.

Love is the way my husband says, “No problem” when I ask him to proof another article.

Love is the way my mom comes into town and offers to watch the kids and asks if I need to go run errands or do anything.

I used to think love was some grand gesture.

I used to think love was something the world had to observe to believe.

Turns out, love is what people do when others are not looking.

It’s selfless. It’s showing up in the good and the bad.

Love is saying I still do when your marriage is facing turbulent times.

It’s making others feel seen and valued.

The best kind of love is meeting people where they are.

It’s appreciating all of the little things that are actually the big things.

I pray we can all take time to show others just how much they mean to us. It can be in the simplest of ways.

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Take the first step.

Send the text.

Say I love you.

Ask how they are doing and wait for an answer.

Support their dreams.

Originally published on the author’s blog