Friday, October 14, 2011

31 Days {Day 14} What Do You Stand For?


A couple months ago my husband and I sat down to discuss what is important to us as a family.  That may sound silly to some of you...like, Um, hello, don't you already know?  Well, we've been going through a lot of changes and challenges over the past couple of years.   And, we've found that when you're in a tight spot, priorities often change and refine.  So, we've been asking a lot of questions of God lately and needed some direction.
To steady us we started talking about what's important to us.

That resulted in creating our Family Purpose Statement.

I know, right away comes to mind the satirized "mission statement" in Jerry Maguire's cut-throat sports management world.
Well, that's not it.

So, just what is a Family Purpose Statement?

I'm talking about something that says what's important to you as a family.

In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, Stephen R. Covey says,
A family mission statement is a combined, unified expression from all family members of what your family is all about and the principles you choose to govern your family life.
For us, it's intentionally thinking about what we want our lives together to speak about us as a family.  In a busy society which puts so much pressure on adults and children to keep up with demands on our time and attention, the most important things can just slip right by us (or grow right up) with out our noticing, if we're not intentional.

The family purpose statement helps to distinguish between the really important things and the things that won't matter in the long run.  It helps to make the switch from putting-out-fires-living, to embracing what, and who, you love in life.

Interested in learning more or perhaps in creating your own?
Tomorrow I'll take it a step further and share our purpose statement, the questions we asked ourselves to determine it, and how we use it today to govern our family life.

Has anyone out there done this?
I'd love to hear something that's important to you and your family.


Want to read the rest about the Family Purpose Statement?
Click here for {Day 15} Live With Purpose and here for {Day 17} Directions, Please

Have you missed a day in reading 31 Days of Seeking Peace in the Midst of the Mess ?  

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