Family Values
Our family values hang on the wall by our dining table.
In my conversations, I get a lot of questions about our family values. How we came up with them, how we use them consistently, and why we decided they were important to have. So I thought I’d share a brief post answering those questions and maybe inspire you along the way to consider your own family values.
First, let me share what our family values are:
Love God. In Matthew 22 in the Bible, Jesus reminds us that the greatest commandment is to love God.
Love People. Also from that same passage, Jesus reminds us that the second greatest commandment is equal to the first.
Live Intentionally Authentic. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that we are designed for power, love, and self-control. We want to live in that, authentically who God made us to be, every day.
Express Courageous Creativity. Creativity is a major part of our home. Joshua 1:9 encourages us to be strong and COURAGEOUS. We strive to be courageous in all things, but we emphasize courage in creating.
WHY FAMILY VALUES WERE IMPORTANT FOR US TO ESTABLISH
As previously overstated, intentionality is super important to my wife Sarah and me. We don’t want to leave our best of intentions up to chance, but rather have a game plan in place to make the things happen we want to see happen, including, but not limited to, how we raise our family. Overkill? Maybe, but we’d rather be guilty of trying too hard than not trying hard enough.
HOW WE SETTLED ON THESE
Sarah and I set a date day aside a couple of years ago, specifically to discuss what family values we wanted to uphold in this season of our family. We began by making a list of all the things we feel our family already naturally embodies. What are the sayings that we often use in encouragement or correction? Then we made a list of all the things we wanted to introduce into that category. Lastly, we listed out all the things we wanted to distance ourselves from as a family.
Once we got all of that written down, it became easy to start identifying themes across the mind map we created. We narrowed things down and grouped others to form four easy-to-remember statements.
HOW WE USE THESE CONSISTENTLY.
Lots of families have values that they say are important to them, but rarely do they discuss or even act on them. Each Sunday night, at dinner together, we host a family meeting in which we discuss the week ahead, what expectations we have, what’s on the calendar, etc. The most important part of that meeting, however, is our family devotional and highlight of one of our family values. Since we have four values and there are (usually) four Sunday nights in a month, we rotate in one value each week. In that discussion, we’ll remind ourselves of the importance of that value and look for ways in which we have lived or can live out that value in the past or coming weeks.
How about you? Do you have family values? If so, would you share them with me?