by Marilynn Chadwick

My dad honored my mom, but I also saw how my mom honored my dad. Looking back, I can see some of the reasons their marriage remained strong. Sometimes when we’re in the middle of daily life as it’s happening, we don’t fully realize the truly heroic nature of the people right in front of us. It all seems normal at the time. So it’s been special for me to take a look back at the life my parents lived and the legacy they left me. As I reflect, I feel enormous gratitude for their sacrifices that paved the way for the life I have today.

We’ve been talking about the importance of how to create a legacy of honor. So it has helped me to think back about Mom and Dad’s life together with honor as my lens. How did Mom honor Dad? What are some ways they honored each other? And what kind of legacy have they left to those who come behind them?

During our growing up years, Mom was Dad’s helper in the best sense of the word. She was a true ezer, the Hebrew word for “helper” as described in the Creation account (Genesis 2:18). Mom was strong and kind. And she was his rock of support. I remember how Mom built Dad up. She believed in him.

Mom had stopped teaching school when the kids came—family was everything to Mom. She especially loved Dad’s parents and his three sisters and their families. She even took an interest in Dad’s sales force—“Daddy’s men,” as she called them—and sometimes we got together with their families.

Dad’s job as a regional sales manager with a large company required quite a bit of travel. Mom never complained. She simply kept life going for her three daughters. But invariably, most of our life crises seemed to hit when Daddy was away. Like the time I tried to do a cannonball dive into three feet of water and didn’t tuck quite fast enough, hitting my head on the bottom of the swimming pool. After Mom and I took a fast trip to the emergency room and 27 stitches later, Dad finally made it home.

Recently, when I asked Daddy to describe some ways Mom had honored him, he pointed back to that incident. “I never worried when I was traveling,” he said. “Even when you cracked your head open, I could always count on your mom to handle things. She was always so calm.”

Daddy’s right. Mom honored him by her strong resolve and her ability to keep the family on track in his absence. The popular World War II expression “Keep Calm and Carry On” was originally created to inspire the Brits to keep their courage during the war. And I think it described my mom quite well. It is also a characteristic of honor we can all embrace.

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This series is adapted from the book, 8 Great Ways to Honor Your Husband by Marilynn Chadwick. To download your free PDF copy of this book, please visit our website by clicking here!

A Legacy of Honor: Keep Calm and Carry On