Book Summary:

How can we love our neighbors amid so much division and hurt?

Loving your neighbor as yourself would be easy if your neighbors were all people you understood, people you agreed with, people like you. But what about playground bullies, colleagues, refugees, online adversaries? They’re all our neighbors, and Jesus said to love them. Every one. But how?

Lauren Casper believes the key is the lost art of empathy, stepping into other people’s shoes and asking what if?—what if it were my child? What if it were me? Casper helps us discover how to

· identify our blind spots and tune our hearts to the stories around us;

· seek and extend forgiveness with grace and humility; and

· engage in diverse and meaningful relationships.

Following these steps will enable us to connect in simple but life-altering ways, to respond to conflict with grace, bring about needed change, and shine God’s unconditional love into a dark world.

Review:

What a book so fitting for our current social climate. It touched upon many different areas searching for resolutions to many of our indifference. Placing yourself in their perspective and drawing to a place of empathy really can be binding rather than dividing. I felt Loving Well in a Broken World embraced what the author intended. I found her thoughts and commentary enlightening and many of the call to actions and empathetic suggestions resonated with my own decision of how I treat and interact with other people. I found the interjections of her family and personal experiences interesting especially the dynamics of her family. The decision to adopt two children who had different ethnic backgrounds is such a wonderful thing to do. It also added another perspective that was interesting to read how it shaped her relationships. Sprinkles of her faith and scriptures in between, this was a nice read that will leave you feeling good.