by Joy Cowley.  Publisher by Pleroma Press. Reviewed by Philippa Mulqueen  

Joy Cowley started Made for Love tentatively in response to a request for a book of spiritual reflections for gay men and women. Happily it became something bigger, something more holistic. This is not a book which sees the love gay people share as something separate. Instead it is a book which sees love as something to delight in, to honour and celebrate rather than something to fear. Ultimately in reminding us that love is a “path that leads to God” many couples will find aspects of their lives captured in these reflections.

The book is divided into four parts. Firstly there is Celebrating Love which sensitively and beautifully reminds us of the beauty and gift of desire in lines such as “my fingers walk the landscape of your body” or “You put your hand on my arm. At once my heart starts racing . . . ” or descriptions of the “wild hurricane of love” when God “kindly looked the other way”.

The next section Claiming Love speaks powerfully to all those couples who have ever felt others judging their love. I found myself thinking not just of gay couples like Judith and me but also of those who find love after divorce, couples where all others can see is an older woman with a younger man, couples who do not fit society’s or the church’s vision of love. The inclusive nature of Joy’s language means that many couples can find themselves in the acknowledgment of the courage it takes “to accept winter in the eyes of another” and the affirmation that love is a place that “is not divided” and does not have “set paths” or “fences”.

The third section, Honouring Love, reminds us to live in awareness of love and the way “gentle words, kind deeds, a smile, a touch, some sacrifice of time” are the daily gifts of love. The final section, Living Love, celebrates the way loving and being loved impel us to reach out to others and to see love, give love, be grateful for love, and respect love wherever we find it since “It’s all about your love, isn’t it, God?”

Miranda Brown’s designs lift the spirit and draw readers into these reflections which deserve a wide readership. This book is a welcome resource which honours the journey of all couples who long for words that reflect their sense of God’s joy in their love for each other.

Published in Tui Motu InterIslands Magazine. Issue 207 August 2016