Prioritize

As a mom, I often find myself getting overwhelmed by the constant and immediate needs of my family and household and somehow misssing the big picture as I stumble through piles of dishes, loads (ok, mountains) of laundry, and diaper changings. So I cannot say enough about the wonderful tool I am presenting you with today.



My husband and I find it of utmost importance to have a goal for our family and a plan in place to acheive those goals. Because let's face it... I am called to be the manager of my home, and to me that means assisting in discipling my children, keeping my home and caring for my husband. But all the work I do planning meals, cleaning my home, and homeschooling my children will not matter a bit if there is no PURPOSE behind it. I know that I must be intentional in my roles- which is why my husband and I created a Family Mission Statement.



I keep a (huge) 3-ring binder called the "Cunningham Family Handbook". I use this book for every aspect of running our home- it includes sections devoted to calendars and routines, budget, meal planning, coupons, homeschool planning, and many others. But the very FIRST, and most important page in our handbook? Our mission statement! Creating one was super fun for Hubby and I and has given us a clear picture of where we are headed as a family.





Following is a list of questions to help you create your own family mission statement. I got these from an awesome website, http://www.simplemom.net/. Let's get started:





The process:
Answer a series of questions, perhaps use some web tools, talk over your answers, pray, and write down your short-but-comprehensive mission statement. For fun, you can inscribe this statement somewhere permanent and display it in your home.



The goal:
A timeless, easy-to-read, holistic family mission statement that applies to everyone in the family. This will help you make decisions, feel confident about saying “no,” and be a bit better at focusing on the important instead of the urgent.





Questions
Plan an evening this week to sit down as a couple, and answer a few questions. These questions are not comprehensive — feel free to elaborate on your own, to skip some that don’t seem to apply, and to focus on what’s important for your family. Mostly, these are meant to serve as a springboard to get your thoughts flowing.



1. What are a few strengths of each member of our family?
2. Collectively, we are at our best when we are…
3. Collectively, we are at our worst when we are…
4. If we had a completely free day together as a family, how would we spend it?
5. What are practical ways we can serve each other?
6. What are practical ways we can serve others outside our family?
7. Name three things you think you could do better as a family.
8. What would people say today about our family as a whole?
9. What would we like people to say about our family as a whole in 30 years?
10. If our home could be filled with one emotion, what would it be?
11. Name three adjectives we would like people to use to describe our home environment.
12. If we could name one principle from which we want our family to operate, what would it be?
13. What are the top four priorities we want our family to value?
14. What is the main purpose of our home?
15. What is the secondary purpose of our home?
16. What is the individual purpose in life of each member of our family?
17. What is one way we are unique as a family?
18. Describe the status of our family in 10 years…
financially:
intellectually:
emotionally:
relationally with each other:
communally in our environment:
physically:
spiritually:
19. Where are you as a family in 10 years? What does your home look like?
20. What is the purpose of life?



So I hope you can use this fun but meaningful activity to bring direction, purpose, and unity to your family and home! If you use this, please let me know how it turns out!



Thanks for reading,

Sarah