If you want to show your love for someone, you don’t necessarily have to think about making a “big” gesture. This is something I was thinking about over the past few days; the more I thought about it, the more I realized: love, and the way we express it, is really in the little things. The small gestures we do, sometimes mindlessly, can sometimes be the best displays of love we can give another person.

Things like giving someone a hug when they’re sad, or bringing them tissues when they’ve got a cold. Stroking your thumb over the back of their hand when they need consoling, or surprising them with a cup of hot chocolate when they need warming up. Telling them a funny joke or a silly pun when they’re feeling down, or just listening to them and what they have to say.

Here are ten small ways you can share your love with someone, without having to make a “big gesture”  —

1. Make dinner for someone – even if that means ordering in Chinese, or pizza, or whipping something up from a box. (Trust me, it’s the thought that counts!)
2. Hold their hand. Again… the little things! Sometimes this simple touch, this point of contact, can do wonders to calm/destress a person!
3. Tell them. Tell them you love them. Tell them you appreciate them. Tell them you respect them. Tell them WHAT you love about them.
4. In the dead of winter when it’s 20 degrees, bring them a cup of hot chocolate, without asking.
5. Enjoy the quiet moments. Sure, it’s fun to go out on a date and go to a movie or a party or a fancy dinner. But sometimes, just sitting together, being together, in the silence can be just what the doctor ordered.
6. Show that you think about them. If you’re stopping by the coffee shop on your way home from work, shoot them a text or call and ask if they want anything. Picking up lunch? Ask what they’d like, if anything. See something on your way to the office that reminds you of them? Tell them.
7. Be intentional in your relationship. I’d like to write more about this someday, but be intentional in pursuing your significant other! Just because you’re dating, or engaged, or married, doesn’t mean you stop pursuing each other!
8. Write them a note. Such a small gesture, so easy, and yet, so meaningful!
9. Greet them. I stole this idea from another website, but it’s such a small, important thing! Maybe you had a hard day at work and all you want to do is get home and lay down – but you can surely afford two minutes to say hello to that person and ask how their day was! Similarly, if you’re the first one home/wherever, greet them when they arrive!
10. Support them. This can mean different things depending on the person! Sometimes it’s holding their hand through a doctor’s appointment, or sitting through the play they’re acting in. Sometimes it means reading the thing they wrote, or sharing it. *waves to husband* Whatever you can do to support them is an easy way to show your love!

That’s not to say you can’t make a big gesture; of course you can! Just remember that the little things are just as important, and can be just as meaningful! What little things do you do in order to show someone you love and care about them?