The Ultimate Gift Book Review

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I have always loved a "make you feel good" kind of book and that is exactly what The Ultimate Gift is. Jim Stovall did a wonderful job putting together an adorable yet inspiring novella which possesses the ability to tug at your heartstrings while restoring your childhood desires to live a benevolent and fulfilling life. This book puts life in perspective. It causes the reader to immediately want to make positive changes in his or her own life. And those feelings don’t end once you’ve put the book down. The Ultimate Gift leaves a lasting impression from a thunderous impact. Amazing, since you can read the entire book easily in one hour.

The book begins at the reading of the Last Will and Testament for Red Stevens. His entire greedy family is present and awaiting their treasures bestowed unto them by Red’s death. It was a frightfully morbid scene with greed completely obscuring any grief...if there had been any grief to begin with. One by one Red’s lawyer reads the gifts given to each individual and that person would then be escorted out. Finally there is one person left in the room, the youngest inheritor and nephew, Jason.

The immature and disrespectful Jason thinks he has been left nothing. You want to reach out and slap him as he acts like a spoiled child demanding his candy and toys. But instead of receiving a traditional gift of inheritance, young Jason is made to watch a video tape in which Red explains his actions. Through the tape Red explains that he has ruined his family by giving them everything they ever wanted while at the same time depriving them of everything they ever needed. By giving them everything, he gave them nothing. Red doesn't want his family legacy destroyed and so he is determined to correct his mistakes by not letting Jason fall through the cracks of the kingdom he had built.

Red instructs Jason to return every month to his lawyer's office to view the tape and set out on a task. Each month he is to learn a new lesson of life. His lawyer will take the role of moderator and watch over Jason as he takes on each task. His first task was to learn the lesson of hard work and Jason is sent to a real working ranch in Texas. For an entire month Jason will work as a hired ranch hand working for minimum wage, something he had never experienced before. Jason was born wealthy, he had never experienced the joy that real work and accomplishment can provide. Month after month Jason much complete a new task designed to teach him a positive life experience. If he completes all twelve tasks to the satisfaction of Red’s lawyer, Jason will then receive his inheritance, "The Ultimate Gift".

I find that when I read an inspirational book like The Ultimate Gift, it is precisely at the time when I need to read it. Everyone needs to read and share a book such as this one every once in a while. After I read The Ultimate Gift, I called my grandmother and suggested it to her. She called me back a week later to thank me for suggesting it. She was astonished when she picked it up at Barnes and Noble and then flipped open the cover to reveal a picture of the author, Jim Stovall. He had been a parishioner at her church and gave many motivational speeches there. She knew him! And she loved the book from beginning to end.

I will have to let you in on what I took away from the book. The Ultimate Gift described a small daily mental routine you can use to help live your life better. Someone was describing how he would envision a golden tablet every morning before he got out of bed. Each morning he would imagine ten things he was thankful for being inscribed on that golden tablet. I liked that idea so much that I started to use it. It makes me feel wonderful, and truly thankful for everything I have.

Pick up The Ultimate Gift and read it for yourself. Then I encourage you to suggest this book to others, give it away, pass it around or buy it for someone you know who might need a special little book to help them out. You know, The Ultimate Gift is really the book itself.

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