What's Your Love Language?

I've been reading a book that I've read in the past, but have decided to revisit. It's entitled The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. In the book, Chapman describes how we all have a love tank, but each one of us has to have that tank filled in one of five ways and not all of us share the same love language.

These are the five love languages:

• Quality Time
• Words of Affirmation
• Gifts
• Acts of Service
• Physical Touch

I received this book about nine years ago as a gift and read it when my husband and I first got married. We learned that his primary love language is Words of Affirmation and that his secondary is Physical Touch (this does not necessarily mean sex). My primary love language is Quality Time and my secondary is Physical Touch. In order for our love tanks to be filled, we have to learn to speak each other's love languages.

Since this year has been a particularly rough year in our marriage, I decided to read the book again. And I'm glad I am. I needed a refresher course not only in my husband's love language, but in mine, as well. I think sometimes I don't know how to reach out to my husband and communicate what's bothering me, but a lot of that stems from my love tank being on empty. Sometimes I'm just functioning on fumes. And I know the same goes for him. Learning to communicate in our love languages helps us to understand when the other is feeling particularly low about what's going on in his or my life.

Do you know your love language? Do you know your spouse's, and if so, are you speaking it and filling up his/her love tank?