Love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable …

It’s not in the grand gestures that love leaves its mark … the unexpected gift, the display of sympathy, the kind words. It is in the little things, like stopping what you are doing to listen, pulling your mind from wherever it is to give this one moment to the person in front of you.

I’ve been thinking about that this week. I’ve been thinking about my children and the ways I show them my love. I have loved them — by providing for them, by rooting for them, by guiding them, by correcting them, by telling them I love them. But I wonder if the true success — or failure — of my love for them will be measured in those fleeting moments, like when a daughter comes home and says “Hi” and I give her my time or I go back to doing whatever it is I am doing. Or like when a son calls on the phone and I make it short or pass the phone to my wife or I find a way to communicate to him how excited I am to hear from him.

It’s the little things that matter, because it is in the little things that we reveal our heart … not what we have intentionally chosen to show of ourselves to the rest of the world, but what we really are.