married and still loving it -- a book review

Gary Chapman and Harold Myra's Married and Still Loving It:  The Joys and Challenges of the Second Half is a book filled with wisdom for those couples who've been married for years -- the ones where children have gone off to college.  At least on the surface.

But after having read just a few pages in, I knew that perception wasn't quite right.  Because Married and Still Loving It has wisdom for couples who've been together just a few years (Kendra and I have been married only three) or those who've been married a decade or more.

Chapman and Myra may share stories of couples whose life together is entering that "second half", but the experiences highlighted in those stories will be familiar to any couple of any age.  Here, they discuss some of the most important lessons married couples still need to learn.  Lessons like:

• "Meeting in the middle":  Many of us are married to our polar opposites.  (I'm speaking from experience, here.)  That's why it is so important to find a way to meet in the middle -- ways to make a life together. 
• "Kids in crisis":  There are a lot of married couples out there that have been in unhappy marriages for a long time.  They think that as soon as the kids get old enough to move out, they can get a divorce guilt free.  Then you realize, getting a divorce will still impact your kids and send them into crisis.  It is hard to see your kids in any type of crisis.  Any marriage, in any crisis, is worth the prayer and forgiveness it takes to negotiate those difficult waters, and reignite the marriage vows.
• "Still sexual after all these years":  Sex in all seasons of life come with different struggles.  As you age, it can make things more complicated.  A lot of long term marriages say their sex lives are better than ever.  Married and Still Loving It addresses the different aspects of the problems that couples (of any duration!) face on account of physicals issues and emotional problems.

And that's just a sampling.

Married and Still Loving It is filled with the stuff of real life -- stories of real marriages in the real world, marriages that have learned what it means to love one another through the good and the bad.  Those stories make this little book worth adding to your library.

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I received a free copy of this book from Moody Publishers in exchange for my honest review here.