Thursday, September 17, 2015

Review: For the Love

For The Love: Fighting for Grace in World of Impossible Standards
By Jen Hatmaker
Thomas Nelson August 2015
224 pages
Read via Netgalley 

For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards 

Jen Hatmaker is a writer I am very glad we have writing today. In this book's introduction, she writes about her hope that reading this book will give you a big sigh of relief as you realize you are free from fear and expectation and can just love the people in your life. Hatmaker wants good things for people and it is evident on every page. She is endlessly compassionate and often laugh out loud funny. It's ok if you snort once or twice while reading her book - she would understand.

For The Love is a clarion call for us to give ourselves some grace. We are living days where we think we can fit in just one more thing before collapsing for a few hours of sleep. But it is possible for us to ease our unrealistic expectations of ourselves and the people in our lives. As Jen writes, "Maybe if we let ourselves off the hook, we can let others off too and discover that God was in control all along...He is good at being God. Hooray! We don't have to be saviors and critics for each other; we're probably better as loved people beside one another. We aren't good gods, but we can be good humans."

This is only the second book of Jen's that I have read so far, but I think it would be a great introduction to her writing style and to her great big heart for people. The chapters are a bit scattered, which makes it a fun read. It just means you have to pay attention as she writes about rethinking our need to find our calling and then is suddenly bemoaning the horror of leggings as pants and the return of overalls.

Her previous book Interrupted was a game changer for me and I was hoping this would be the same. This is a good book, but it's a different kind of book. Personally, I would have preferred for her to go deeper and more in-depth with some things. For example, she writes about difficult people in your life. She advises that you are not obligated to stay in toxic relationships and while I agree with that, I wanted to get some insight on how to deal with the relationships you can't escape at your job or in your class at school.

Jen Hatmaker writes the kind of book that you stay up reading until 2 in the morning and then pass it on to someone you love. Reading For The Love will give you renewed courage to be kind to yourself, to better love the people in your life, and to find your gifts and use them well. 

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like just what I need...a book that has heart and humor and offers some perspective. I mean, don't we all need that? :)

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    1. Absolutely! I really appreciate when there is humor - otherwise you just get knocked over the head with realizations about life.

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  2. This sounds like such a happy read! From the goodreads description, it sounds a bit too religious for me though. If you have any thoughts on whether it would work for someone who's not religious that you'd be willing to share, I'd be interested to hear what you think :)

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    1. It is from a religious perspective, but I think there is a lot in there that is just good life advice. You could certainly skim the parts that go deeper into her faith and focus on her thank you notes a la Jimmy Fallon!

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