Fables, Fantasy, Faith

Having a Vision for Your Family

9868923Though my role has changed in a traditional sense, my Biblical responsibilities have not.

This has come to be my mantra.  Since I have started this blog I have seen several eyebrows rise when I share with people my upcoming role as a stay-at-home dad. Even though my wife and I have switched roles as far as who brings home the bacon, God still has responsibilities he has placed on me as the husband and father.  I have briefly mentioned these in past posts, but now I would like to delve a little deeper.  This week it is about having a vision for your family.

Where do you want your family in the next 5, 10, even 20 years? This could include location, but I am mainly talking about the family’s development.  How do you want them educated?  Where do you want your 18 year old spiritually as he/she takes his first major independent steps? Where do you want to be financially?  This is all part of the vision we should have for our family.

The easy part is the vision itself.  I doubt most parents have lackluster ambitions for their family, and I seriously doubt parents in a relationship with God are ho-hum about their children’s faith.  We all want the most for our children, but their are two parts to a vision, the destination and the journey.

The Destination

This is the vision we have for our family.  The final product. I call it a vision, but I don’t mean some ethereal dream or glimpse of the future.  I am talking about goals.  These goals are what we hope to have accomplished at different milestones.  It is the husband’s responsibility to set visions (goals) for his household.

The Journey

This is our plan of arrival- the road map to reaching our destination.  Our journey is the critical part that is often overlooked. The problem struggling families have when they arrive at milestones isn’t the vision of their destination, it’s their game plan. Too often we set a plan to obtain our vision, but we lose sight in our daily routines.

Dad’s role

Dads, I believe it is our calling to seek out a vision for our families and then initiate a plan. Does your family have a vision that glorifies God?  Is your family growing and maturing spiritually?  Is your household drowning in debt? Call me old-fashioned, but all of these fall on the father. The men who excel at leading their families are the ones who have goals for their family, establish a game plan to obtain their goals, and then stay faithful to their plans on a daily basis. We are suppose to be the leaders, the doer’s and most importantly, the first to sacrifice to reach God’s plan for our family.  It is also our responsibility to be in tune with our families so that we can discern when we are getting off track. This is true whether you are doing the daily grind at work, or staying home with the kids.  Make sure you have a vision and game plan for your family.

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