Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer, It Happens Every Spring

It Happens Every Spring

Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer

Tyndale, January 2007, $12.99

ISBN 1414311656

Deepwater Cove is a small community overlooking the Lake of the Ozarks by Tranquility, Missouri. It is a small town where everyone knows everyone else. Five women form the TLC club, and they are there for one another, especially with personal issues.

Since the kids left, one of the TLC members Brenda Hansen suffers from empty nest syndrome, as she feels she offers nothing to her community, her spouse or especially herself. Her husband Steve is a workaholic who comes home to eat and sleep, which adds to Brenda's feelings of abandonment, isolation and loneliness; whereas Steve avoids Brenda because he finds her increasingly nasty and combative when he is near.

During a nasty storm, a stranger knocks on Brenda's door saying he is Cody and asking for chocolate cake, as that is the Christian way. Brenda initially fears this young man, but soon brings him in from the rain giving him his cake. Others also help the mentally challenged lad, without understanding that in his way he is assisting them much more, as couples like Brenda and Steve try to renew the euphoria of their relationship.

Using the spring of Dr. Chapman's THE FOUR SEASONS OF A MARRIAGE theory as the base for the first of a quartet of relationship dramas, IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING is a delightful tale that introduces the audience to the TLC members and other folks, but focuses mostly on Brenda and Steve. Most fascinating is that the authors chose spring for the couple who are probably in early fall; however, spring is the time of rebirth, which means that a pair must renew their relationship or it will atrophy and die prematurely. The opening Four Seasons saga is a warm story of the importance of relational rejuvenation.