A Legacy of Honor: Whatever Happened to Honor? (Part 3 of 4)
Release Date: 02/12/2025
Kindness Under Fire: The Real War on Women
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick I wonder why we keep buying the same old lies. If someone else treated a woman as badly as she sometimes treats herself—overwork, eating disorders, addiction, lack of rest—they’d be convicted of abuse. The real war on women may require that we take an honest look in the mirror. And stand up to the devil who planted those lies in the first place. If we truly want to understand what it means to be a Proverbs 31 woman of valor, if we want to lead with kindness—perhaps we should begin by learning how to be kind to ourselves. It’s been said that a woman never knows...
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Kindness Under Fire: Nurturing Children
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick To nurture someone is another way to be kind. Especially when it comes to little children. The words nurture and nourish come from the Latin word meaning “to nurse.” To nurture someone is to help them grow, develop, or succeed. I think back to the days of nursing our three children and I’m still awed that I was able to provide practically all the nourishment needed by those babies for their first year of life. To me, breastfeeding was nurturing and nourishment all rolled up into one. I’ve enjoyed traveling in what some call “developing” nations...
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Kindness Under Fire: How to Take the Perfect Nap
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick Religion has not always been kind to women. But women also seem bent on exhausting themselves. Today’s woman seems restless. I think St. Augustine could easily have been talking to us when he made this famous statement in his Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Religion may not have been easy on women. But Jesus has been supremely kind. That’s why I keep pointing out our enemy, the devil, as the real perpetrator of the war on women. Hurting women has been his game plan from the start. Jesus made a...
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Kindness Under Fire: A Leader with Heart
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick I’m one of those people that gets misty-eyed over our men and women in uniform. My dad is a World War II era submarine veteran. Our family tree is dotted with soldiers back to the Revolutionary War, when our ancestor, Captain Simon Hunt, was one of the 80 minutemen who led the charge against the British with the “shot heard round the world.” Soldiers fight for our freedom. They display courage and discipline. But for me, war is all about heart. A woman of valor is ready to fight the fight of faith and to fight for those she loves because she has heart. The...
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Kindness Under Fire: Teaching Kindness
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick Kindness actually makes people happier. Such were the findings of a Stanford University study. Subjects who did five kind actions each week were happier than those who did not. And those who performed five acts every day were the happiest of all. The study found that happiness is greater when the acts of kindness are directed toward those we know as opposed to strangers. I guess you could say kindness, like charity, begins at home. The Proverbs 31 woman of valor instructed others. I like the way the International Children’s Bible puts it: “She teaches others to be...
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Kindness Under Fire: Rest for Your Soul
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick The Proverbs 31:10 “woman of valor” is kind, and she teaches others to be kind. But we must also consider the kindness of God. Because until we get that one right, we’ll never walk in true freedom. Throughout history, we have seen how women (and all people, for that matter) have done terrible things to themselves and to each other when their view of God is off. We have a good role model in the woman of valor in Proverbs 31. Her wholehearted devotion to God was not from terror, but rather from a reverential awe that filled her with confidence. Such strong faith was...
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Kindness Under Fire: The Female Superhero—Not So Liberating
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick I will readily admit I love superhero movies. Today’s superhero movies have given us quite a rush of female superheroines splashed across our screen—a far cry from the helpless damsel in distress of years past. Perhaps these fit, strong females will provide our daughters with better role models and higher self-esteem? Better think again. Just when we suspected these hard-hitting heroines were saving us from our outdated images of women, this new breed of female superhero might be making things worse. A recent study shows that instead of giving women healthier views...
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Kindness Under Fire: Our Own Worst Enemies
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick You’d think women would have learned by now that sometimes we can be our own worst enemies. For example, the torturous custom of foot binding, which plagued China’s women for over a thousand years, was perpetuated by women. Originally a symbol of female wealth and refinement, foot binding eventually became a symbol of beauty. The smaller the foot—with a three-inch foot being the ideal—the better chance the woman had of getting married. In order to fit into the tiny lotus shoes, women had to literally suffer the breaking of bones in their feet, beginning when they...
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Kindness Under Fire: Showing Kindness to Ourselves
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick I still marvel when I think about how God gave women the added privilege of being life-givers and co-creators of the entire human race. Eve was the first woman. Her name literally means “mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). I love Eve’s response after giving birth to the first human ever born to a woman: “Look, I have created a new human, with the help of the Eternal” (Genesis 4:1 VOICE). Another translation puts it this way: “I produced a man” (Gen 4:1 TLV). We’re not only able to bear children, but also to nurture them. What’s more, we have the...
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Kindness Under Fire: She Teaches with Kindness
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick A woman of valor who can find?...The teaching of kindness is on her tongue (Proverbs 31:10,26 JPS). Disney got it right. The scariest villains are often women. Think about it. Cinderella’s wicked stepmother overworked the poor girl and locked her in an attic before she was finally rescued by her handsome prince. The evil Maleficent cast her jealous spell on Sleeping Beauty. Snow White battled a wicked queen who was envious of her beauty. And don’t forget Cruella De Vil [cruel devil] who kidnapped an entire litter of Dalmatian puppies, intending to use their fur to make...
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…continued from yesterday
I emphasized the importance of honoring men in an editorial I once wrote for our local newspaper after the passing of the legendary University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith. Along with great basketball, Coach Smith taught his players, including my husband, much about honor. David says that next to his own father, Smith was the most significant man in his life. Though the excerpt below is primarily about men as fathers, it begs the question as to why the lack of honor toward men today:
Good dads these days are hard to find. Just watch any television show. Dads are spoofed, maligned, caricatured, and generally disrespected. The message? It’s just not cool to be a dad. If the same treatment were given to moms, you’d spark a revolt.
But that’s the nature of dads. The good ones don’t whine. They don’t show off. They put the needs of their families ahead of their own. And as Coach Smith modeled for us all, good dads embody self-sacrifice. In short, good dads are that reservoir of safety and unconditional love for which all kids hunger. Quite likely, they’re a major factor in determining the outcome of a young person’s life. The statistics aren’t pretty. Kids without dads are more likely to end up pregnant out of wedlock, in prison, poor, or dead. And bad dads may be worse than no dads, leaving scars inside and outside that can last a lifetime.
But I’m seeing a resurgence of dad-hunger out there. I think people today are literally dying for good dads. Perhaps Coach Smith’s legacy will inspire dads to be better. Smith knew it wasn’t simply about winning and losing but rather “how you play the game.” His life reminds us that good guys are very cool. And just maybe, more guys will want to become good dads. Lord knows we need them.
The responses to my editorial surprised me. Had I touched a nerve? Handwritten notes and emails poured in from a variety of readers—male and female, young and old. A prominent defense attorney even shared the memory of his own father, now deceased, reminiscing about what an honorable man his dad was in his eyes. A federal judge, a bank president, the local head of a government agency, a former mayor. Each told me about the honorable men in their lives. One even confided his heart’s desire to be a man of honor within his own family. Several young moms, all who happened to be at home with small children, wrote in to praise their husbands for their hard work and for being such good husbands and fathers. Others posted on social media that they were challenged by my reminder to simply be thankful for the honorable men in their lives.
The responses made me wonder. What has happened to honor these days? Are we a culture that’s thirsty for honor? It certainly made me think…
…to be continued tomorrow.
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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!