"It's the thought that counts."

This old saying comes from the idea of gratitude that the smallest or simplest forms of effort are acceptable as effort. Essentially this means that one could get away with doing the bare minimum. So what you're then saying is that it's okay for you to give endless amounts of yourself like a bottomless pit while they sit around giving - at the very least - thoughts? No. Slap yourself.

A relationship or even just a mere exchange of effort between two people requires matching work.  All relationships in life follow a give-and-take impression; it would feel improper to continuously take without having given.  It is typically a form of relating to one another and building value upon the relationship.

With that being said, this statement, "it's the thought that counts," is correct... for simple people who want simple relationships. So many people will argue with me about this because simplicity is encouraged. But we hail from a world, or universe even, of billions of possibilities.  Ideas can be simple. But reality is not.  So is anything ever really that simple? But we all demand some sort of structure and complexity in what we want from people that having "good intentions" is not nearly as good enough as executing good intentions would be.

Some couples walk around with matching shoes and matching t-shirts. Why? To make a meaningful statement about how they relate to each other (although it's not the most beneficial way to relate). Similarly, to make a meaningful relationship and to build value upon a relationship, two people must have an ongoing exchange to match each other's work and fulfill a beneficial relation. What are ideas without execution? They are stagnant and unmoving.  Therefore, it takes much more than a "thought" to make a relationship work.