How to Write Your Family Vision

It’s so easy to set ourselves on cruise control {especially us moms} in order to simply get through each week full of cooking, cleaning, helping with schoolwork, sports + other activities, caring for ourselves, our spouse and our children, not to mention other family and relational responsibilities. I’m exhausted just typing it all out. If we aren’t careful, we’ll wake up 10 years from now and wonder where our life went. We’ll wonder why we never grabbed hold of the time to intentionally pursue our calling, passions or dreams.

I love Kristy’s insight of needing a set of bifocals to look at our lives in both the short and long term. Short term and long term perspectives are vital to obtaining a balanced and focused view of our life. I hope you have been or will be able to sit down with your family and write out your short and long term goals.

Honestly, depending on your personality, this next step may be more effective if you complete it before you write out your goals. Or perhaps having a set of goals will better equip you to create a vision for your family. Either way, each step is important in casting vision for the next year and the next 10-15 years.

Goals

Kristy broke this down into categories for us to consider each area of life and what we want to see or accomplish in the next year and then the next 5+ years. Set aside some time to talk as a family about your short and long term goals for these cornerstones of your life. Use the Family Goals Worksheet provided below to write yours together.

Vision Statement

About 2 years ago I felt God leading me to cast vision for my life. I sat down to write a post on how to live your best life because I had been consumed and weighed down by the temptation to compare myself to others and I knew others were stuck in the same trap. At the time, I didn’t involve my family as I believed this was an important step in that season for me. But as I began to write what I believed God was saying for me, it was no surprise how much it became about my family. Casting vision unique to me and my family helped remove the constant temptation to compare myself to others. A vision statement provides a family a beautiful glimpse of the destination they aim to reach together. Though it’s important to remain open to God’s constant redirection and leading, holding vision in our hearts will set us on course for an effective and intentional journey.

My personal vision statement:

My best life is simple. It’s moving at a good pace but it doesn’t get ahead of me. It keeps my family first with faith as our guide. It leaves room for lots of extended family time as we build a legacy of generations. It includes ministry work that allows me to reach out to and serve others while doing something creative. It is fueled by faith, not fear. It keeps my marriage a priority with regular time to serve and connect with my husband. It allows time for me to be available to my children and their friends, whenever they need me. It makes friendship a priority, allowing me time to serve and connect with the women God has blessed me to walk with. It may not include great riches here on earth but with good habits and diligence it allows us to be comfortable while remaining very generous with our resources. It does not include things {houses and cars, etc} that will overshadow our priorities or cause extra work. It affords us the ability to travel the incredible world God created to introduce our children to different cultures and spend time serving God’s people in many nations. It never allows busyness or stress to get in the way of loving those around us. It is fueled by joy and grounded with contentment. It may not be glamorous, but it’s the life God’s called me to.

This Spring, my husband and I will sit with this vision and refine it to include more about what we believe God is saying for our family in the short and long term. We’ve recently come out of a long season of loss and transition so I know this is the perfect time to get our bearings and head out intentionally on the road ahead.

With everything going on around us, it can be incredibly daunting to think about casting vision and being intentional. If you feel overwhelmed at the thought, pray and ask God to bring peace and clarity. Find 15 minutes to sit quietly and ask him to begin revealing the story he is writing for your family. This is a story that will be written over your lifetime. It doesn’t need to come together quickly or immediately. Take this next, simple step and let him craft your story chapter by chapter.