I had the opportunity to listen to some girls recently.  They shared that they heard their parents say they loved them, but their actions weren’t matching up.  It made me think that perhaps those parents were getting into a love rut with their student.  What’s a love rut? It’s like a tractor rut. A tractor rut is a well-worn and deep path where the tractor has crushed the ground underneath and it would take lots of dirt to fill in the gaping path.  I think sometimes it’s possible to only demonstrate our love in a certain way to students that they get so used to it that it doesn’t even look like love to them anymore.  Talk with your parents in your girls ministry and see if they would be willing to break some routine and move out of a love rut into a love trampoline. Hang with me 🙂

1. write a short note to your daughter and lay it on her pillow before she goes to bed with a piece of chocolate. (words of affirmation/encouragement)

2. buy her a pair of fun socks and put them on her bed along with the verse Isaiah 52:7. (gifts)

3. Schedule a Saturday for you both to go serve at your local homeless shelter together and then take her for a snack break to talk about all that you experienced. Make a rule that you can’t talk about home issues or school issues…  (Quality time)

4. Surprise her when she comes home from school by setting up a nail station where you are serving as her personal nail technician.  For mothers and daughters that struggle with the love language of personal touch…this is a great starting activity as it allows you to hold her hand as you paint her nails.  You may want to provide a book of “Would you ever” questions to help with conversation during this opportunity.

These are just 4 ideas for parents to get out of their love language rut and show their daughter they love them in a new, fresh way. They are dying to hear those words, and they may just be tuned out because it has become routine for them to see them.