There are times when we are timid and shy about expressing the love we feel. For fear of embarrassing the other person, or ourselves, we hesitate to say the actual words “I love you.” So we try to communicate the idea in other words.

We are sometimes very strange people. The only thing we want to say and the only thing we should say is the one thing we don’t say. And yet, because the feeling is so real and the need to say is so strong, we are driven to use other words and signs to say what we really mean. And many times, the meaning never gets communicated at all and the person is left unloved or unwanted.

Therefore, we have to listen for love in the words people are saying to us. Sometimes, the explicit words are necessary but more often, the manner of saying things is even more important.

Any expression of a person’s concern for others says “I love you.” Sometimes, the expression is clumsy, even cruel. Sometimes, we must look and listen very intently for the love that it contains. But it is often there, beneath the surface.

We show our love sometimes by gentleness, sometimes by thoughtfulness and impulsiveness. Many times we have to show our love by forgiving someone who has listened to the love we have tried to express.

The problem in listening for love is that we don’t always understand the language of love which the other person is using.

Thus, we have to force ourselves to really listen for love. The thing in our world is that people rarely listen to each other. They hear words but they don’t listen to the actions that accompany the words or the expression on the face.

We have to listen for God’s love as well. Thomas Merton says that God’s presence is to speak, ours is to listen. We get all confused and discouraged and think that even God has abandoned us and does not love us anymore because we don’t listen closely enough for His love. It is there in people, in circumstances, in situation if we can only hear it.

Listen for love and we will find that the world is a very loving place after all.