The Kindness Challenge by Shaunti Feldhahn

The Kindness Challenge by Shaunti Feldhahn is more than I thought it would be. Feldhahn admits that it’s basic: in the first chapter, she reveals the three aspects of the Kindness Challenge.

The simple challenge includes saying only positive words about the person the reader seeks to have an improved relationship with, intentionally praising the person, and performing acts of kindness for the person.

But, simple does not equate with easy. And for that reason, likely the same reason the book exists, I kept reading.

Feldhahn fills her book with anecdotes from people who’ve taken the Kindness Challenge, and she displays statistics showing rates of improvement in various relationships. Most of the examples that Feldhahn gives are from husbands and wives, but the Kindness Challenge can apply to any relationship.

The books ends with three step-by-step instructions for how to complete the Kindness Challenge: one set for a husband completing the challenge for a wife, one set for a wife completing the challenge for a husband, and one set for anyone.

While the book could have ended after chapter one, the anecdotes and tips that Feldhahn gives are genuinely helpful for someone intentionally seeking to improve a relationship—especially a notably starved or hostile one.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

"The Lord’s Prayer: Words of Hope and Happiness” by Rick Warren and illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson

This book, “The Lord’s Prayer: Words of Hope and Happiness” by Rick Warren and illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson, exudes an aura of gentleness.  The cover features a girl, head bowed, feeding birds seeds from her hands.

The hardcover book opens to a dozen two-page spreads with large, detailed illustrations accompanied by a verse of The Lord’s Prayer. On the right-hand side of the page is Warren’s commentary of the Prayer. The commentary can be easily understood by children, and under the child-friendly commentaries is a short prayer of thanks to God.

The book offers options for readers. Parents and children can enjoy only the Prayer and pictures or they can indulge in the commentaries too. The commentaries could easily spark conversation and spiritual discussion with older children.

The illustrations are beautiful. What I especially appreciate about them is that they include children of varying nationalities.

The book concludes with The Lord’s Prayer written in its entirety.

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The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through BookSneeze®. I was not required to write a positive review.