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January 13, 2026<\/span><\/p>\n When Love Gets Lost in Translation<\/strong><\/span> Lee en espa\u00f1ol<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAbove all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.\u201d Colossians 3:14 (NLT)<\/em><\/p>\n I was working hard \u2014 really<\/em> hard \u2014 to fill my wife, Leslie\u2019s, love tank.<\/p>\n Her primary love language is Words of Affirmation, so I unloaded a steady stream of them morning, noon, and night (well, mostly noon and night because I\u2019m not a morning person). I practically became a walking Hallmark card.<\/p>\n I affirmed her gifts, her character, her emotional strength, her brilliance \u2014 everything I thought would encourage her.<\/p>\n And you know what happened?<\/p>\n Nothing. No uplift. No sparkle. No visible heart-swell.<\/p>\n Just polite gratitude and a faint look I couldn\u2019t read.<\/p>\n I kept thinking, Wait \u2026 This is her love language. This should be a slam dunk. Why isn\u2019t this working?<\/em><\/p>\n So I added more encouragement. Bigger, bolder, louder. At one point I wondered if maybe her love tank had sprung a leak.<\/p>\n Leslie eventually put words to what she was feeling: \u201cI appreciate what you\u2019re saying, but sometimes your big, strong encouragement feels like \u2026 pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n She explained that my affirmations didn\u2019t make her feel like I was seeing her \u2014 it felt like I was expecting something from her. From her perspective, even though she\u2019s all about Words of Affirmation, I was handing her performance goals rather than affection.<\/p>\n It made no sense \u2026 until I realized something I should\u2019ve known all along: I was speaking her love language in the wrong dialect<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I assumed Words of Affirmation meant encouragement. Motivation. Rallying speeches. But the words that made Leslie feel loved were compliments<\/strong> \u2014 gentle, simple affirmations of who she is, not who she needed to become.<\/p>\n I was cheering. She needed noticing.<\/p>\n That tiny but huge difference changed everything. It explains so much, doesn\u2019t it? Why we try our best \u2026 and sometimes still miss. Why our intention is loving \u2026 but the impact isn\u2019t what we hoped. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:14, \u201cAbove all, clothe yourselves with love.\u201d<\/em> For years, I thought that meant trying harder, stacking on more patience, more effort, more selflessness. But clothing yourself with love is far more relational than that.<\/p>\n It\u2019s paying attention.<\/p>\n It\u2019s about adjusting your natural style to match their natural receptivity.<\/p>\n The \u201cperfect harmony\u201d<\/em> in Colossians 3:14 isn\u2019t about sameness \u2014 it\u2019s about blend. It\u2019s different notes working together.<\/p>\n And sometimes the smallest shift in how we express love is what enables us to speak the love language that matters most: the one our loved one is longing to hear.<\/p>\n When I finally pivoted to sincere noticing, Leslie\u2019s love tank began to fill instead of draining under pressure. My words finally landed.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re in a season where you\u2019re trying your best to clothe yourself with love but your best efforts feel like they\u2019re falling flat, don\u2019t be discouraged. It might not mean you\u2019re doing it wrong. It might just mean you\u2019re not yet speaking your loved one\u2019s love language in their dialect.<\/p>\n Jesus, help me love the people in my life in the way they receive love best. Give me understanding, curiosity, and courage to adjust my approach. Teach me to love with intention and gentleness, one translation at a time. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever tried to love someone well and still felt like you were missing each other, you\u2019re not alone. Now you can personalize the love you give like never before with The Love Language That Matters Most<\/em> by Dr. Gary Chapman and Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re ready to take one small step toward better understanding the people you love, take The 5 Love Languages\u00ae Premium Assessment<\/strong> and uncover the unique nuances that make your expressions of love truly personal. Whether your relationship feels strong or stretched thin, these resources offer practical guidance and gentle hope for learning to love \u2014 and be loved \u2014 in a way that finally lands.<\/p>\n 1 John 4:7-8, \u201cDear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love\u201d (NIV).<\/p>\n If you\u2019re feeling strong (and a little brave), ask your loved one, \u201cIs there anything I could do better to make you feel more loved?\u201d We\u2019d also love to hear your thoughts about today\u2019s devotion in the comments!<\/p>\n \u00a9 2026 by Dr. Les Parrott. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n Proverbs 31 Ministries January 13, 2026 When Love Gets Lost in TranslationDR. LES PARROTT Lee en espa\u00f1ol \u201cAbove all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.\u201d Colossians 3:14 (NLT) I was working hard \u2014 really hard \u2014 to fill my wife, Leslie\u2019s, love tank. Her primary love language is Words of Affirmation, so<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[86,269,268,2829,1443,145,270,181,2834],"class_list":{"0":"post-16334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-devotionals","8":"tag-daily","9":"tag-devotional","10":"tag-encouragement","11":"tag-january","12":"tag-lost","13":"tag-love","14":"tag-proverbs","15":"tag-today","16":"tag-translation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
DR. LES PARROTT <\/span><\/p>\nOUR FAVORITE THINGS<\/h4>\n
ENGAGE<\/h4>\n
FOR DEEPER STUDY<\/h4>\n
P.O. Box 3189
Matthews, NC 28106
www.Proverbs31.org<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"