"I love you."
The words you crave from a friend, parent, or significant other have lost their merit in so many areas of society. Love is used as a marketing ploy, bargaining tool, and all too often, it's said too soon. "I love you" used to have merit, weight, but now it is thrown around carelessly like a band-aid on a relationship that was never meant to be."I love you should be hard to say until you're with the right person. It should give you butterflies before you utter the word for the first time. Love is a sacred feeling, so why isn't the admission of love treated as such? It's becoming a cliche and those "three little words" have become just that, little. Their weight has been stripped away by daily misuse, and suddenly it doesn't seem to mean all that much.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not set-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love, however, means a great deal. "I love you" is, after all a promise. It means I promise to sacrifice my time and resources for you. It means I promise to honor you. "I love you" means I promise to be patient and honest with you. "I love you" means even on the bad days, I promise to stick around.
Love is a deep emotion, and should never be taken lightly. So it's admission should be treated as such: a sacred promise.