Life Is a Gift: Inspiration from the Soon Departed - Hardcover

Fisher, Bob; Fisher, Judy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446196363 ISBN 13: 9780446196369

Publisher: FaithWords, 2008

Synopsis

In candid interviews, terminal patients in the Alive Hospice program talked with authors Bob and Judy Fisher, addressing some of the most important questions we ask about our life and how we've made the journey. These end-of-life ponderings are collected into inspirational and provoking thoughts that will encourage each of us to live life fully. Each story is reflected in thematic chapters-priorities, family, simple pleasures, romance, integrity, regret, forgiveness-crafted into a series of "lessons learned," offering motivation to approach life with more vigor. These powerful stories deliver the clear message that if you wait to really live until you know you are going to die, you risk missing much of the joy life has to offer and the chance to leave a positive legacy.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Fisher has been a university professor, dean, academic vice president, and has served as president of Belmont University in Nashville for the past six years. He is a Fulbright Scholar and serves in numerous volunteer roles including serving on the NCAA Division I Board and Executive Committee, the board of the Nashville Symphony, and is the current Chairman of the Greater Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Judy Fisher has filled the roles of mother, Middle School science teacher, and currently, the campus-wide coordinator of interior construction and external landscaping/lighting at Belmont University. Judy conducted the large majority of the interviews for this project. Judy is active in community service where she serves on several non-profit boards including the American Lung Association, the Nashville Opera, and most notably, the board of Alive Hospice.

Reviews

What can the dying teach the living? That is the question that educators Bob and Judy Fisher set out to answer when they interviewed 104 hospice patients ages five to 98. There are no surprises in this slim volume: people talk about family more than work, and about living in the present. The book is organized thematically around topics like priorities, simple pleasures, regrets and forgiveness. This leads to some repetition and overlap, but also helps each chapter stand alone for individual study. The tone is comfortably conversational and liberally peppered with tie-ins to popular songs, although sometimes the authors' commentary gets in the way of their subjects' more powerful words. This is not a soul-shaking book, but it is an effective invitation to self-reflection. It stands out among the growing number of books about death and dying in that it is aimed back at the living: readers can find inspiration in these voices to make better choices in the here and now, find deeper joy in every day and live life with no regrets. (May)
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Edition details

• Publisher: FaithWords
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446196363
• ISBN 13: 9780446196369
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240