Chasing Skinny Rabbits: What Leads You into Emotional and Spiritual Exhaustion... and What Can Lead You Out

Trent, a bestselling evangelical author who is president of StrongFamilies.com, writes compellingly on family topics of every kind. Here he tackles “skinny rabbits”—those distractions that sidetrack us from our true goals and drive us to exhaustion. In a playful gimmick, he employs cartoons as well as text to teach readers how to defeat those traitorous skinny rabbits at their own game. Using whimsical characters and tongue-in-cheek humor, Trent gently exposes how skinny rabbits wreak havoc on individuals emotionally, spiritually and physically. Though tailored to Christians, the book is accessible even to those with nominal faith since Trent’s ideas are practical in purpose and scope. The author discusses the pitfalls of various skinny rabbits, including the “all-take-and-no-give” relationship trail, the “possessed by possessions” trail, the ideal body trail, the perfectionism trail and the big family event trail. Each of these, Trent cautions, leads to a dead end. While the material aims to instructively entertain, Trent sometimes strays too far into levity; the cartoon approach grabs attention but doesn’t lead to much substance. Still, some readers will appreciate the occasional checklists for change inserted sporadically throughout the book. (Jan.)