SAYING
“I LOVE YOU”

Topics: Affirmation; Family; Fathers; Feelings; Relationships; Security; Unconditional Love; Words

References: Proverbs 27:5; 1 Corinthians 13:1–7; Ephesians 5:1–2

“I love you” wasn’t spread around too much in our household. Not that it wasn’t meant. I could tell every time my dad told me he loved me without saying it. It’s just the way things were then.

The situation is different in my family. I want my kids to hear, “I love you no matter what,” which means, “whether you’re good or bad, happy or sad. It doesn’t matter whatever you are. I love you. Unconditionally. Always.”

It all goes back to security and telling them you’ll always be there for them. Maybe you run the risk of telling them you love them so often that it loses meaning. I’ll risk it.

—Mark Hyman, Dad’s Magazine (June–July 2000)