We say it all the time.
To our family.
To our friends.
But how often do we stop and think… What does love really mean? especially when we’re trying to explain it to a child?
It’s such a familiar phrase that we rarely question it—and we assume the person hearing it understands what we mean. But what if they don’t?
That question came to life in a powerful way for me the other day on Barbuda.
I told a special little boy—who me and my Donnie love like a grandson—“I love you.”
He looked up at me with wide, innocent eyes and asked:
“What dat mean?”
And it hit me: so many children in this world grow up never truly knowing what real love looks like or feels like. But then there are others—just as heartbreaking—who are loved, but no one ever tells them.
I’m always amazed when I hear adults talk about their childhood and say, “I know my dad loved me… but he never told me.” That’s hard for me to imagine, because I grew up with a mom who told me she loved me every single day—many times a day. I never hung up the phone without hearing those words.
So whether it’s a child who has never felt love at all, or one who’s never had it spoken over them, the result is the same: they’re left wondering what love really means.
If that encounter wasn’t enough, I soon learned the Lord wasn’t done with my heart just yet.
Last week, one of the older boys—someone me and my Donnie have grown to love and are very close with—was leaving our yard with a wheelbarrow full of tools.
I called out, “WHOA, WAIT! No one’s allowed to take tools out of the yard… unless, of course, you’re special.”
Then I asked him, “So what does that make you, Jayden?”
With a grin so big all I could see were teeth, he said, “Special.”
“That’s right,” I told him. “Because we’ve come to know you… and we trust you.”
As he walked out the gate, I told him, “I love you.”
He smiled back and said, “Yep.”
I called his name and said again, “I love you!”
He looked back at me and replied, “I love you too.”
But something about the moment tugged at me—it didn’t feel right.
So I called him back to the fence and said gently, “You know, Jayden, you don’t have to say you love me just because I said it. It’s not like needing to say ‘please’ or ‘thank you.’”
He looked me in the eyes and said something I will carry with me forever:
“But I do love you, Bonnie.”
My heart melted. Completely.
And right then, I wondered—is this what Jesus feels when one of His children finally, sincerely says, “I love You”?
Not out of obligation. Not because it’s the right thing to say. But because it’s reall.
That moment with Jayden gave me a glimpse, I believe, of the joy that fills our Savior’s heart when love is returned—not just in words, but from the heart.
And that—that—is the heart of Bonnie Floyd Ministries.
This is why we come. This is why we stay.
Not just to restore houses or teach sewing… but to build relationships.
Not just to say “God loves you”… but to show what love really means.
To create moments where love is not only spoken—but where the true Author of love is made known.
“Let us love one another, for love comes from God… God is love.” – 1 John 4:7–8
So, I’ll leave you with the question that still lingers in my heart — one I answered gently for a little boy I love, but one I believe is meant for all of us:
If you looked into the eyes of a child — and said, “I love you,” and they asked, “What dat mean?”
what would you say…
so their little heart wouldn’t just hear it, but truly understand—and believe—you?