Fun Loving You

Title: Fun Loving You
Author: Ted Cunningham
Major Themes: Marriage
Synopsis: Marriage is intended to bring joy to people, and this book encourages couples to have fun together!

Even though we have been married nearly 24 years, I find it very worthwhile to read books about marriage every so often. Usually, though, I don’t find myself picking one out to read, but rather happen upon it and open it at random. That is how I started reading Fun Loving You a few weeks ago. I often start reading the next book in alphabetical order on my Kindle when I’m not sure what I want to read next, and this was the next one. I started reading it, and before I was halfway through, I decided I wanted to share this with my husband. We’re reading this book together and it is giving us a lot to talk about!

Ted Cunningham is a pastor who does a lot of marriage counseling. He is passionate about marriages, including his own. Fun Loving You is full of encouragement to couples to not allow themselves to stay “stuck” in their marriage, and to have fun with each other. In the chapter we just read together, he discusses a number of symptoms of a stuck marriage and the decisions that are necessary to become unstuck. The next chapter talks about making “fun loving you” lists. That chapter looks like it might be very helpful in dealing with all the little things that can be so annoying about a spouse and turning them into something fun instead.

There are chapters about spending dedicated time together daily, and weekly, and an extended time annually. It will be interesting to read those chapters together and discuss how or if we want to implement Ted’s suggestions! One chapter is titled “Enjoying Marriage More Than the Wedding”. What a catchy title! It sure makes sense, though; a marriage lasts a lot longer than the wedding! Then, there is a chapter about the intimate side of marriage (that might be fun to read together!), and the last chapter is titled “A Marriage and Funeral Worth Repeating”. I was a little taken aback to read about a funeral in a book about marriage, but if you think about it, that is the end of all lives—good and bad—and all marriages. It’s a good thing to think about.

I definitely recommend Fun Loving You to all married couples, whether they have problems getting along or not. It’s good to be reminded of why we got married and encouraged in our life together. I appreciated the reminder to enjoy our marriage—we had to chuckle at the chapter we read today, about the dreary beginning and ending of Ecclesiastes and the verse right in the middle that says to enjoy your marriage during your meaningless life!

Each chapter has a number of questions at the end, designed to help you think about your own life in light of the contents of the chapter. We are discussing these questions together after reading the chapter, and it’s been very good for us.

No warnings!