"I Love You"

I was thinking the other day about that phrase at the top of this post. What does it mean when you hear it? When you say it?

Because to me it means, "Hey. I'll be there for you. I want to spend time getting to know you even better than I know you now. I will sacrifice for you. You are worth it to me."

I feel like, a lot of the time, those words are a scary thing in our culture. We're afraid of them. And understandably so sometimes--those words mean a lot. A lot of commitment and a lot of trust. And sometimes those are hard to give up to people.

But we don't always say it when we need to, I think. I think a lot more people in our lives could hear those words more often than we say them: family, teachers, neighbors, roommates. Those people in your life that do so much for you and don't realize how much you appreciate it. You know the ones.

I don't think "I love you" always means a romantic promise. I think it's beautiful when a couple feels safe enough to say those words because "I love you" means a lot. It's a phrase that reaches deep into our hearts and touches the strings that make us want to say it back. And that's when this life is worth it.