You know I like to write of love, not as some arrogant and cocksure teacher, but as someone who has learned the hard way just how precious and healing this blessing truly is.

OK, this is only a lightweight piece… or is it?

I watched my youngest son shopping for a gift for someone special to him. He spent days trying to make up his mind. Being a man, his idea was that the bigger or more amazing the gift, the more intense the gesture of love. Even if it was not a question of finding the most costly gift, he still wanted something that would impress her…

Ladies: tell him!

It isn’t how big the gift, or even what the gift: it’s the gifting of the gift that wins a woman. I remember a lecture last year by John Gray (Mars and Venus guy) in which he explained, for those that didn’t get it, that giving 2 dozen roses didn’t get you any more points than giving just one rose, sweetly meant.

In fact giving just one rose 24 times was the best option, because it counted as 24 gifts; a bunch counted as only one!

But what can I tell him? I’ve been in the exact same place many times. One sweetheart (between wives) expressed a desire to play the saxophone—so I bought her one.

She never played it, to my knowledge. But when I sang her a love song, it softened her more than a king’s ransome would do!