Respect

Hot and cold. Mars and Venus. Reason and emotion. From the time Tommy in the third grade slugged us because he liked us, we have been trying to understand men and women.

I’m reading Love and Respect: The Love She Most Desires, the Respect He Desperately Needs by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. (Why do authors need to reveal their whole book in the title?)

The idea is that women desire love while men need respect. Women give love because they value it so much, while men long for respect. Ephesians 5:33 suggests the same concept and Eggerichs claims we have gone a long way in nurturing love in marriages but not respect.

Women withhold respect when they’re not feeling love while men withhold love when they don’t feel respected. Eggerichs calls this the Crazy Cycle and suggests that the one most mature in the relationship needs to break the cycle and give what they are not yet receiving, trusting that eventually they will receive what they need.

This book is a fast read. Eggerichs repeats his concept in many different ways. I was torn, as I read, between telling him (do you ever talk to books and authors?) that I GOT IT and wondering if I would ever get it.

He has a website (of course). Ignore the froth and dig into the meat.

Let me know what you think.