Drawing Heaven Into Your Marriage

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I don’t often review books.  I make exceptions only when the book is exceptional.  Drawing Heaven Into Your Marriage  by H. Wallace Goddard, PhD, is exceptional!

Casting off conventional “wisdom,” Dr. Wally gets right to the root of successful, happy marriages and for that matter, successful, happy lives.  His approach is based entirely on the Atonement, Merits, and Mercy of Jesus Christ.  No more tricks and techniques, no more fooling around with each other’s behavior or feelings, Wally teaches us the true nature of love and change.  The book is refreshing, motivating, readable and hits close to home.  Without being preachy, Wally teaches fundamental principles that are full of warmth, compassion and believability.  I wish every married couple had and studied this wonderful, bright work of love and testimony.

So pleased, am I with Drawing Heaven Into Your Marriage that I’m going to give away a copy on the 15th of March.  If you’d like to have your name entered into the drawing please indicate in the comments of this article.

 Booklogged and I enjoy and warm and joyful marriage.  We’ve learned many of the things Dr. Wally teaches, in the marriage school of hard knocks.  We affirm that the principles are true.  Oh, how I wish I’d had this book in the earlier moments of our marriage, where I could possibly have avoided inflicting so much pain on her.  I did have Wally in those days, though, (he’s a personal and very dear friend) and he was, even then, catalyst for much of the progress I was able to make.  Why?  Because even 20 years ago, Wally understood better than I, the goodness, kindness and love of Jesus Christ and the impact my Savior could have on every facet of my enormously imperfect life.

Dr. Wally

Before Stephen E. Robinson and Believing Christ, before James L. Ferrell’s, The Peacegiver, before serving at the county jail and later, at the juvenile detention center, before learning to engage, rather than merely reading, The Book of Mormon, before addiciton recovery and my connection with LDS ARP, all of which have taught me about the love and atonement and mercy of Jesus Christ; before all of that, was Wally Goddard.  I had grown up with lots of mistaken, mythical and nonsensical notions about God and my relationship with him.  Wally was the first to help remove the scales from my eyes.  This was long before he was famous.  He had not published; he had no PhD.  In those days the only thing I ever placed before his name was brother.

It is interesting though, that as I read his writings today, there is little that doesn’t echo from the days we pondered life together in our youth.  I rue that I wasn’t prepared to better understand what he was trying to teach me back then.  While it is clear I didn’t get much of what Wally had for me; it is also clear that he busted the first cracks in the crust of false notions that had me encased in fear, frustration and darkness.  Back then, Wally was to me, a  solitary voice in a culture of tradition, self sufficiency, anxiety and threat.  I, for example, subconsciously thought that God was holding me by the scruff of the neck, out over hell, just waiting for an excuse to drop me.  Had I ever articulated those words, I hope I would have recognized how foolish they are.  I never actually put it in those terms, though.  Instead, it was more like script silently written into the software of my thought processes.  Script, which I may have and often did disagree with, but script which still controlled my response to the circumstances of my life.  Wally initiated for me, the long laborious process of rewriting that script.

Wally is now more renown and has written several wonderful volumes that are as fresh and cutting edge as things get in Mormondom.  There is no heretical fringe type thinking, just honest, faithfilled truth that so many of us have missed in our lives.  You can read his Myth of the Month columns at Meridian Magazine or explore a collection of wonderful articles at his blog, Dr. Wally.

New Breakthrough! A Treatment for Adultitis!

I have suffered from chronic Adultitis, off and on, for years now.  I began to suspect the magnitude of the problem when I started reading Robert Fulghum.  In one of his books he mentions visiting a Kindergarten class and asking how many could, sing, draw, dance, etc.  To every question, the answer was a resounding, “I can!”, from each child.  Then he asked the same question of a group of college freshmen.  Most didn’t feel they could do any of those things.  They clearly had already been smitten with Adultitis.  I began right then on the road to recovery.  It isn’t as hard as you might expect!  But, I realized today that I had allowed this insideous malady to creep back up on me of late. 

So, now, just in time for New Years resolutions, comes a recovery program!  Actually, that is a gross oxymoron, for making New Years resolutions is indicative of Adultitis in its more advanced stages.

Without making any resolutions, plans or charts, I’m going to start right now to laugh more, play more, love more, read Fulghum more, and let my hair down more.  Who knows I might even try stage rushing!

Book Review - If You’re Missing Baby Jesus

If You’re Missing Baby Jesus is one of the most delightful Christmas stories to come down the pipe in a long long time.  I really don’t know how long it’s been around, but I just discovered it this year.  A great little story to read to the whole family around the tree this year.  It’s about a regular family, just like ours.  They have regular troubles just like ours.  They muddle along just like we do.  But - Christmas finds them anyway, in a most remarkable and yet believable way.  Don’t miss this little treasure.

My Grandfather’s Blessings

This is, without doubt, one of my all time favorite books. At once, heartwarming, amusing, thought provoking, surprising and cozy.

I expect to read it again and again.

Learn more at Rachel Naomi Remen’s website.