By
Published: April 26, 2010

After a young man pops the question, he may immediately begin talking to his bride-to-be about their financial future, which he considers as much an evidence of his love as his kisses. A father who rolls on the floor while tickling his daughter into gales of laughter demonstrates a daddy’s love for his daughter. A husband shows his love as he juggles the bank account to purchase a dishwasher for the home, a pair of shoes for Bobby, or a new robe for his wife. The man who invests in acreage is planning for the future with the ones he loves. A woman might regard these as necessities, but they show the man’s desire to give and share and provide. This, too, is love.

Thus, although few men possess the ability to sweep a woman off her feet, they demonstrate their love in calm and rational lines. For example, a husband brings home paychecks regularly—converting his entire earnings to the needs of the family. A man may feel very little emotion in rising at 6:30 five mornings a week and working around the clock, but his basic reason for a lifetime and often asks for little more than meals and an embrace at the proper time.

When a man opens the car door for his wife, assists her in and out, and takes her arm as they walk, he reveals his protective instincts over her. He wants to shield her from danger or anything that might threaten her, which is another element of male love.

No matter how rough the exterior of a man, tenderness and love still lurk underneath the surface. While I taught in a rural community, a wife told me how her husband, a wheat farmer, would plow around the bird’s nest so as not to disturb the nest or eggs. A man is by nature kind, affectionate, loving and sentimental. He has tender ways and can be deeply thoughtful. And he expresses his love for his family in a multitude of ways.

Whereas love does not make up a man’s entire existence, he cannot live without it. Love motivates a man to work, plan, sacrifice, invest, expand and pursue. It is for love that he gives up his singleness, sings on the dotted line, accepts full financial responsibility for her and all children born to the union, and gives away his most prized possession—freedom.

There is no limit to the love a woman can receive from a man when she learns to open the door to his heart, for she can provide the right emotional atmosphere for him to freely expose his feelings and dare to share his love.