Today my parents celebrate fifty years of marriage. My husband’s parents have also celebrated this milestone, as did my grandparents.
At the time of my grandparents’ celebration back in 1995 I was newly engaged with no concept yet for how hard marriage can be or what love truly is. So now twenty-two years in, I have a very different appreciation for the milestone of fifty years!
My husband likes to say, “Marriage is death.” Not because I’m slowing killing him! But because in marriage each partner is called to die to self and live for the good of the other. Apart from a dying, giving up and serving mindset, I’m not sure a marriage can survive. At least not in a life-giving way.
The fact my husband and I, and our kids have in our parents and grandparents this type of marriage modeled to us is truly a gift. Each a picture of the fruit that the faithful weathering through life, and dying for the good of one another produces.
We need these pictures to direct us off of ourselves, and the here and now. Pictures ultimately that point us to the perfect love of Christ for his bride, the church. By his grace, may my marriage too be a reflection of such love to a world that is confused about love. But especially to our children and our children’s children, like the legacy my parents have carried.
May the open letter they have written to our family on this momentous occasion serve to encourage you in your marriage, and/or consider the legacy you are creating for future generations.
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A Letter to our Family
Today, Honey and Popsy are celebrating 50 years of life together. That seemed like a long time off—50 years ago, yet here we are! I was in Law School and Honey was a Second Grade Teacher. We didn’t know what lay before us and what mountains or challenges we would have but even when we stumbled and failed, our Love of God, and His Son Jesus carried us.
So here we are, celebrating this milestone of time, but mostly we celebrate our lives together, knowing that God’s love and our love for God is the highest priority for living a life together and together we can also celebrate the gift of two beautiful daughters, two wonderful, loving sons-in-law and six terrific, healthy grandchildren, and a lot of memories along the way!
Our legacy is about faith, commitment, giving and setting an example, knowing we are not perfect but we know that whatever success we have had are blessings from God and the failures we had of our own shortcomings were used by God to pick us up and move forward.
It has always been important to be in church every Sunday, to read God’s Word and to pray specifically. To learn something new every day and help each other and others every day.
Our prayer is that the importance of that legacy is passed to our grandchildren and their children and children’s children as we are a part of a generational relay race in which we must make a good handoff to the next generation.
How thankful we are for our daughters and their husbands for our six grandchildren—as one writer put it: “Grandchildren are God’s way of compensating us for growing old.” So we celebrate the life we still have and the blessing of our children and grandchildren to see each one also glorify our God who gives us life eternal!
But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children. Psalm 103:17
Bech Family: 50 Years in the Making
Beautiful legacy!