Does Your Family Have Vision?

It's At the Well Monday and I'm excited to be the little linky-link hostess for today's topic. That means I came up with the idea of talking about having a family vision, but that's not to mean this is my own brilliant idea.

No, you see, I went to a Family Vision Conference a few years ago, and let me tell you, it changed the way we do this thing called raisin' youngin's! After you're done reading my little take on this, click over there and see if you can't get your family to one of these conferences. A.ma.zing. Also, check around those who are also sharing their take on this as well here At the Well. Well, well, well.

Why does having a family vision matter?

Well, I've learned over the years from many people, including my pastor, that (and I might be botching this up pretty darn good) everyone ends up somewhere, but few end up somewhere on purpose. (that was close)

Meaning, unless we set a vision before our family on all levels, we might not end up where we thought we should. We can have ideas and dreams for what our family and our kids might look like 5, 10, 20 years down the road, but without defining those vision in concrete and purposeful ways, we'll probably not look much like what we dream.

Proverbs 29:18 (in the good ol' King James Version) says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish..."

A vision for your marriage and family will be a gift of life giving proportions. And hey, any of you who are single don't think for one minute this isn't for you. You too need vision for your life. If you marry you'll need it. If you don't you'll need it because, like all of us, we can have "spiritual children" to mentor and raise in Christ Jesus. You can have vision for those you minister to.

I'm sure you're all wanting to know, "Well, what's the Witcher's vision?" I'm glad you asked.

The theme in our house is "Kingdom Minded." We have it hung on our wall on the way down the hallway. There is not a day that goes by that all of us read that plaque and are reminded of why we're here. It's not just for us, but for the world.

But more than that, we have defined what we want our girls so strive after, what character traits we want to really develop in them, and how we will raise them to have a Kingdom Minded thought process for just about everything. It's a work in progress, but, uh, we're working on it.

Pastor JT and I are very purposeful about raising our kids to think beyond their little world of Disney and Webkins. We even choose curriculum (because we're homeschoolers) that teach with a missions slant. We try to keep our girls thinking about other cultures and we remind them often to be praying about the great things God will have them do.

Our vision goes deeper than that and has many practical facets. I won't go into those here, but I wanted to encourage you reading this really take a look at your life and your family's life and consider building and casting a vision for your family.

What do you value?
What do you honor?
What do you want your kids to value?
What character traits do you want to develop in both you and the rest of your family?

And don't think that because you're kids are grown that you can't still do this. Make a vision for you and your spouse or your future grandkids. Develop a vision for ministry and outreach. Find something you love doing and write down how you can be an effective minster to those around you.

Another example of having vision comes from my dear friend, Shawna. Here's a bit from her and her hubs vision over their family:

Mirrors Reflecting God's Glory
2 Cor. 3:18

Included with that overall vision is a mission statement with well thought out, practical ways of seeing that vision come about.

Yours will look totally different than mine and Shawna's because God will have a different call on your family's life.

Seriously, go to that conference. If you can't, take time to sit with your spouse, or by yourself, and try to write down then things you'd like to see your family do, become, and be examples for in this world.

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Honestly folks, I don't want to see a bunch of dead families lyin' around.

Cast vision! Cast life!


Thanks to Chelsey at Joyfully Living for being our Super Hostess and coming up with this!!For those of you participating heeeeree's Mr.Linkyyyyyy!