Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Love and Respect

Today I get to review my first book!  I signed up for a great program through Thomas Nelson publishers, called Book Sneeze, where I am provided a book for free, then I review it on my blog.  Yesterday I received Love and Respect for a Lifetime, which is the gift book version of the well-known book on marriage by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Love and Respect.  I have wanted to read this original version for years, but, for various reasons, have never gotten to it.  So I was excited to see this as one of the choices for my book review.
Because this is a gift book, it was a very quick and enjoyable read.  The pictures and artistry of the words are very attractive, and the writing format primarily consists of little snippets of wisdom as exerpts from the original book.  Initially, it was a lot of reiteration of the main theme...women absolutely need love and men absolutely need respect...stated in many different ways, with the emphasis being on the differences between men and women.  But after the first 30 or 40 pages, we begin to get some practical application:
     "Using Ephesians 5:33, I explain the Crazy Cycle this way:  When a wife feels unloved, she reacts in a    way that feels disrespectful to her husband, and when a husband feels disrespected, he reacts in ways that feel unloving to his wife.  This dynamic spins, and the relationship can get crazy!"
He reminds us that "my response is my responsibility".  That each time we interact with our spouse, we make a choice in how we respond.  And if we choose to draw strength from our relationship with Christ, we will not expect our spouse to meet our every emotional need.
My only criticism is that it left me wanting more.  But it is a gift book, so that is probably the intention.  For those who are not big readers, it gets the ideas out there in a quick, easy-to-read format.  But for those who like to read, the original will probably be more satisfying.
Now I can't wait for the next book!!!

2 comments:

  1. This Crazy Cycle concept can be universally applied. Consider for example the Sunni's and the Shiites -- for thousands of years now, personally and communally, choice by choice, with justice (defined as pay back) as the goal, the violence is perpetuated and the sins of the fathers are handed down to the children. "My response is my responsibility" means to me "let it begin with me". Except me, in my flesh, desires justice (as I define it). So only through accepting God's gifts of salvation, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, and choosing to yield my fleshly/natural desires to The Spirit, "each time I interact" with my spouse, my friends, strangers, rude people, unbelievers,etc., EVERYONE!.. can I (or anyone) stop the spinning! My heart goes out to all who through Satan's schemes have scales over their eyes and cannot see. Only through Jesus can we stop the spinning, by allowing Him to do it.

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  2. good job vicki! i want to read it now!

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