Head Over Heels: How to Fall in Love and Land on Your Feet
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About this ebook
Dr. James Dobson
Dr. James Dobson is the founder of Family Talk, a nonprofit organization that produces his radio program, Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk. He has an earned PhD from the University of Southern California, and is the author of more than fifty books dedicated to the preservation of the family. Dr. Dobson served as an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine for 14 years. He is married to Shirley and they have two grown children, Danae and Ryan, and two grandchildren.
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Head Over Heels - Dr. James Dobson
HEAD OVER HEELS
© 1989, 2011 by Regal Books
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Revell edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-2482-8
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
This book is excerpted from Emotions, Can You Trust Them? by Dr. James Dobson.
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED TO MY WIFE, SHIRLEY,
WITH WHOM I FELL HEAD OVER HEELS
MORE THAN 50 YEARS AGO.
I’VE SHARED THE GREATEST MOMENTS
OF MY LIFE WITH THIS FINE LADY,
AND I THANK GOD FOR BRINGING
HER INTO MY LIFE.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE MEANING OF ROMANTIC LOVE
BELIEFS ABOUT LOVE
LIFELONG COMMITMENT
CONCLUSION
A PERSONAL POSTSCRIPT
LEARNING-DISCUSSION IDEAS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INTRODUCTION
You are about to read a book about one of the strongest and most misunderstood of all human emotions—romantic love. The topic of human emotions always reminds me of a story my mother told about the high school she attended in 1930. It was located in a small Oklahoma town that had produced a series of terrible football teams. They hadn’t won a game in years. Understandably, the students and their parents were dispirited by the drubbing their team was given every Friday night. It must have been awful.
Finally, a wealthy oil producer decided to take matters in his own hands. He asked to speak to the team in the locker room after yet another devastating defeat. What followed was one of the most dramatic football speeches in the school’s history. This businessman proceeded to offer a brand-new Ford to every boy on the team, and to each coach, if they would simply defeat their bitter rival in the next game. Notre Dame’s great coach, Knute Rockne, couldn’t have said it better.
The team howled and cheered and slapped each other on their padded behinds. At night they dreamed about touchdowns and rumble seats. The entire school caught the spirit of ecstasy, and a holiday fever pervaded the campus. Each player could visualize himself behind the wheel of a sleek coupe, with eight gorgeous girls hanging all over his adolescent body.
Finally, the big night arrived and the team assembled in the locker room. Excitement was at an unprecedented high. The coach made his own great speech, and the boys hurried out to face the enemy. They assembled on the sidelines, put their hands together and shouted a simultaneous Rah!
Then they ran onto the field . . . and were demolished, 38-0.
Seven days of hoorah and whoop-de-do
simply couldn’t compensate for the players’
lack of discipline, talent, conditioning,
practice, coaching, drilling, experience
and character. Such is the nature of human
emotions. They can be unreliable,
ephemeral and even a bit foolish.
The team’s exuberance did not translate into a single point on the scoreboard. Seven days of hoorah and whoop-de-do simply couldn’t compensate for the players’ lack of discipline, talent, conditioning, practice, coaching, drilling, experience and character.
Such is the nature of human emotions. They can be unreliable, ephemeral and even a bit foolish. The failure to understand how they work can lead to many painful mistakes. That is especially true of romantic love. It produces a wonderful feeling for a starry-eyed couple, but what does being in love
really mean? Let’s try to answer that question.
THE MEANING OF
ROMANTIC LOVE
Many young people grow up with