Love as a Way of Life

I've recently been reading Gary Chapman's new book, "Love as a Way of Life." If that name sounds familiar to you, he's also the author of the famous "Love Languages" concept and book, which detail the five primary ways people show love to each other (personal touch, gifts, time, word of affirmation, and service). I suppose this is a sort of follow up book to that idea...not just how we show love, but why we show love, and how to make love more a part of your every day life. He used a number of stories from his counselling experience to talk about things like kindness, courtesy, patience, forgiveness, etc. Now, these are not new and unique concepts, and he didn't write about anything particularly earth shattering, but as Eric likes the Rich Mullins quote, "the old old story bears repeating."

It got me thinking about how I express love in my own life. Every chapter Dr. Chapman writes starts out with a little quiz, basically to demonstrate how far we fall from the ideal demonstration of, for example, kindness. I've got a long way to go. And I know that, but maybe God uses these little reminders to keep nudging me in the right direction. Am I being salt and light in my workplace? Because probably the best way to do that is to really love others, and be an example of God's love. When I get impatient with my fellow staff members, how does that serve to color their view of God....if I erally profess to be a Christian? What about not showing courtesy to my patients, some of whom are really the "least of these"?

Anyway, it was all a good reminder. I did get the book for free (the lastest in our blog reviewer series). If you're interested, I have an extra copy, or you can find more info here.