Book review: One Month to Love

"The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost." G.K. Chesterton

Pastors Kerry and Chris Shook (http://kerryshook.org/) of Woodlands Church in Houston have hit the nail on the head in their newest book, One Month to Love. Authors of One Month to Live, which confronted us with the dramatic idea of living as if we truly had one month left here on earth, they now offer this challenge to take the closest look we've ever taken at our most dear relationships. What if you only had one month left to love those closest to you? What would you want to say or do? What would you let drop as you understood the insignificance of these things in the light of eternity? What if the conversations you have with the key people in your life today were the last ones you ever had?

While the book doesn't hammer us with this idea through its practical, 30 day guide to repair and restore less-than-perfect relationships, it does bring it up at perfect intervals to remind us of the only real perspective we should have. The book is divided into four sections, each covering a different theme of relationship building. Each section includes 7 short chapters, one for each day, so the book can be used as a convenient one month devotional.

For me, the first theme, "The Art of Being All There," hit me closest to home. In our tech-heavy world, we too often miss those around us through the distractions of cell phones and computers. Our physical, face-to-face relationships must take our biggest investment of time because they are the only things that matter when we take our last breath here on earth with those people at our side. If I am about to pass into eternity, it's not my iPhone I want at my bedside...I want to be holding hands with those whose lives I have poured myself into, knowing we have each given our all to each other. I don't want any regrets that I missed vital life experiences with them because I was distracted by things that don't truly matter.

Grab a journal and a pen (I did) and take the 30-Day challenge in One Month to Love. Take the challenges at the end of each day's entry. Interact with www.onemonthtolove.com where you will find videos and resources. And experience renewed and restored relationships that will matter regardless of how long you have left to live.

I received a free copy of this book for review purposes from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.