Love and Respect

This book does a great job of summarizing the basic needs of men and women in relationships. He describes the cycles of relationships and how we get trapped in "The Crazy Cycle" vs. putting forth a little extra effort to start a more rewarding "Energizing Cycle". He defines fears and worries that men have that prevent them from truly loving their wives as well as fears that women harbor, preventing them from respecting their husbands. There are several "ah-ha" moments when reading this book. By breaking it down into such simple explanations, it is pretty amazing to see how we get easily trapped in the destructive cycles. However, his acronyms “C-O-U-P-L-E” and “C-H-A-I-R-S” show and simplify the ways that men can truly display love to their wives (COUPLE – closeness, openness, understanding, peacemaking, loyalty, esteem) and that women can show true respect for their husbands (CHAIRS – conquest, hierarchy, authority, insight, relationship, and sexuality). This can be a very helpful tool for creating closeness and more unity in relationships - especially if shared by husband and wife!