The Song by Chris Fabry

by Chris Fabry based on the motion picture screenplay by Richard L. Ramsey

This book generated some very mixed emotions in me.  The book was written to be a modern adaptation of Solomon's life based on Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon and to provide wisdom for committed love, true beauty and satisfaction in relationships.  I have to be honest though, it took me awhile to get into the book.  I like Chris Fabry as an author; his style is a little different from the norm and can capture my attention, so I was really looking forward to reading this book.  I have to admit though that for the first half, I read it more because I needed to.  It felt so predictable.  Singer meets small-town girl, they fall in love, get married, he goes off to make his fame and fortune, she stays home to raise the family. He comes home every now and then because he needs his wife and she is not interested in being needed only for her body. He falls into lust with his co-lead singer and goes down into the pit of drugs, alcohol, and adultery.

About there is where it really started to capture my attention and pull me into the story line.  While I was sure in the end, he was going to choose to go back to his wife, the journey down and back did really hold my attention.  For me, I enjoyed dissecting both Jed and Rose and seeing how each could have done things differently to prevent the downfall.  Obviously, I place the blame for adultery on Jed; however, I think we as wives do have a huge responsibility to make our homes a haven-- to be for our husbands what they need.  I'm not just talking sexually either; I'm talking about making home inviting.  Pick up on those things that mean a lot to your husband and do them.  For my husband that is doing things for him--keeping the house tidy, making him food, serving him.  Right now, I feel so inadequate in this area because he is the one serving me exclusively right now, but that will change.  For Rose, this would have meant going with Jed on tour, putting him first rather than her dad, making him feel important, etc. etc.  It's so easy to see how others should do or should have done it and so much harder to see it in ourselves.

Okay, there's my little sermon on that.  I also want to pull out a snippet that really stuck out to me from the beginning of the book:

Rose got pregnant shortly after they were married and while she was confident and competent about a lot of things in life, being a mother scared her.  She was scared of losing and allow me to quote from the book something that I have thought about some myself, though maybe not in this way.

"Lose what?"

She held back at first, then manged to choke out, "Myself. I look at moms in church and their kids become their whole life.  And that's good. Children are a treasure and they're important, but if your whole life centers around your kids, don't you lose yourself?"

Jed's response: "Maybe in losing yourself you actually find yourself. Maybe instead of making you feel like you're dying inside this baby will make you come alive in a way you've never been before."

That really caught my attention because this is a fear of mine.  I don't want to become a mom whose whole world is her children and she knows nothing outside of that. I don't want to lose my identity and simply be known as so and so's mom.  But maybe it is in losing that you find your greatest joys and delights in life.  Maybe it is in losing, that I will be able to gain better perspective and be able to reach out more and touch more people.

So this got a little longer and maybe more preachy than I intended it to be, but my goal this year is to pull something from each book that I can take to heart and pass on to you. I did enjoy this book and I would definitely still keep Chris Fabry on my list of authors to read.

This book was given me by Tyndale House for the purpose of reading and writing a review on it.  All opinions are my own.