How's Your Love Bank?
Have you ever heard of a “Love Bank” Account? Our pastor mentioned this concept in his sermon a few weeks ago when he was taking about 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. When I got home, I did a Goggle search on 'Love Bank'.
I discovered that the concept of the ‘Love Bank’ was first introduced in the book “His Needs, Her Needs” by Dr. William Harley in 1986. It’s really an interesting concept.
Dr. Harley says that “like a bank that holds our money, making more deposits than withdrawals are one way to ensure you have successful, healthy relationships.” We all need to evaluate our account. If we are making more withdrawals than deposits, then we could learn a few things from 1 Corinthians 13 like being patient, kind and forgiving.
Dr. Harley discovered this concept of a ‘love bank’ while he was counseling married couples. He was growing discouraged because so many were ending in divorce. He felt that the problems weren’t just with communication skills but with “the positive associations and love people felt when they were with each other, or didn’t feel.”
To keep a healthy bank account you have to make more deposits than withdrawals. Since next week is Valentine’s Day, I thought that this would be a great time to evaluate our Love Bank accounts. Like any financial bank account we need to make more deposits than withdrawals.
Deposits are actions like:
Spending quality time together
Offering praise (and not expecting anything in return)
Physical touch like hugs, cuddling, pats on the back, etc.
Letting the other person know that they come first
Doing small gestures that let’s the other person know that you are thinking about them
Since it’s almost Valentine’s Day, the first thing that I thought about was a piggy bank with hearts going into the piggy bank (deposits) and a few on the ground (withdrawals).
So how is your ‘love bank’? Is it empty or full?
Are you making more withdrawals than deposits?
Try putting into practice 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and you might find that people are actually making deposits in your 'love bank' account.
If you are interested in doing this Bible Journaling entry, you will find a devotional and template on my FREEBIES page.