Old-Fashioned Honor in Today’s World by Ginger Solomon
Old-fashioned Honor in Today’s World
By Ginger Solomon
My recent release, Broken Valentine, is all about surrender—to parental oversight, to God, and of self. Several of my reviewers have said that parts of it are unrealistic in today’s society. That’s a shame—not that they said it, but that it is unrealistic.
Sarah and Michael, my characters, are caught in a compromising position and are forced by their well-meaning parents to marry. As one reviewer said, “A modern day shotgun wedding.” The story is about how they deal with the fall-out. They each have their own reasons for going through with it… but no spoilers.
What is sad to me is that this kind of surrender—the honoring of our parents—is unusual or unbelievable. Would I have agreed had I been in Sarah’s position? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean someone, somewhere would not.
God tells us in the Ten Commandments that we should honor our fathers and mothers. While this looks different as we age, it is no less necessary. The command does not say until we move out of their homes.
So what is honor?
According to dictionary.com, honor has twenty-four definitions. That’s a lot to explain a five-letter word. Here are a few:
Nouns:
- honesty, fairness, or integrity in one’s beliefs and actions
- high respect, as for worth, merit, or rank
- high public esteem; fame; glory
Verbs:
- to hold in honor or high respect; revere
- to treat with honor
- to confer honor or distinction upon
- to worship (the Supreme Being)
- to show a courteous regard for
In order to honor our parents, we must have high respect for them, show courteous regard for them, etc.
In my story, I believe this is what Sarah and Michael have done. They have surrendered their own desires to treat their parents with honor.
They go on to learn how to surrender their lives to God. Not everything happens easily—or else it would be a very boring book :)–but then life is a progression of steps forward. Sometimes we trip and fall, but we get back up and keep going. Always moving forward.
Surrendering our will to God.
Surrendering our desires, our hopes, our dreams.
And you know what? We always get the BETTER end of the deal because that’s just how God is.
About BROKEN VALENTINE:
Being stood up on Valentine’s Day is not how Sarah Sawyer wanted the evening to go. It only gets worse when she discovers her boyfriend’s betrayal. Accepting a ride home from her attractive waiter goes against everything she’s been taught, but her choices are limited.
Michael Richmond can’t let his beautiful, yet heart-broken customer walk home, no matter how tired he is after working fourteen hour days all week.
It might be either the best decision of his life or the worst. Only time will tell if their broken hearts can become one, or if they will tear each other apart.
Broken Valentine is the second book in the Broken Holidays Series, but can be read as a stand-alone.
PURCHASE BROKEN VALENTINE: Amazon
Ginger Solomon is a Christian, a wife, a mother to seven, and a writer — in that order (mostly). When not homeschooling her youngest four, doing laundry or fixing dinner, she writes or reads romance of any genre, some sci-fi/fantasy, and some suspense. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, president of her local writing group, and writes regularly for two blogs. In addition to all that, she loves animals, likes to do needlework (knitting, crocheting, and sometimes cross-stitch), and is a fan of Once Upon a Time and Dr. Who.
Author Links:
Website
Thanks for having me, Julie.
I accidentally commented in the post below. 😮
I’m so glad you participated. Please consider guest blogging again soon, Ginger!