LOVING WELL (EVEN IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN)

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another."

                   ---Jesus

In First Corinthians chapter thirteen, the Apostle Paul said, "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

I say, "Wow!"

In his splendid book, Loving Well (Even If You Haven't Been) William P. Smith talks about love in a powerful, instructive way. He explains that destructive relationship patterns no longer need to control us. We all want to love our family, neighbors, and coworkers. But all too often something goes wrong, and we find ourselves tearing down the relationship we wanted to build. Dr. Smith shows that destructive relationship patterns no longer need to control us. Experiencing God's love will change us, so we can trade bad relationship habits for real love.

William P. Smith, M.Div., Ph.D., is a pastor and director of the community counseling center at Chelten Baptist Church, Dresher, PA. He has authored the book Caught Off Guard: Encounters with the Unexpected God and numerous minibooks including How Do I Stop Losing It with My Kids? and How to Love Difficult People. He is regularly invited to speak at other churches and lead weekend retreats. He and his wife, Sally, are the parents of three children.

Dr. Smith divides his book into an Introduction: Escaping an Empty Way of Life, Part 1: Love That Responds to a Broken World, with chapters like: Comforting Love: Running to Those Who Are Suffering and Forgiving Love: Covering a Multitude of sins. Part 11 is: Love That Reaches Out to Build Others Up. A couple of chapters in this part are: Partnering Love: Working Together to Care for Each Other and Providing Love: Meeting Physical Needs. There are fifteen excellent chapters teaching us how to love well.

I like what Edward T. Welch PhD. CCEF counselor and faculty member said about this book: "I have read dozens of books about love, so I wasn't expecting anything new. But I don't remember too many books that I wanted to read to my wife, inspired me, led me in confession, left me with enthusiasm to try some bolder forms of love, and will leave me poor because I want to get copies for so many friends."

I don't want you to bankrupt yourself but I hope you too will want to buy this book and copies for a few friends.

(I received this book free from The B&B Media Group. No other compensation was received and I gave no guarantee for a favorable review.)