Making the Most of Your Space: Core-Living

Spend a year working on making space, and you'll suddenly become very aware of how you fill it.

Getting down to the essential core of possessions/priorities/passions is a pursuit of a lifetime, but the progress we've made in the past year has reinforced our desire not to be distracted by the pull of more but rather to focus on what matters.  Just as I don't want to spend time cleaning things that we don't really need or value, I don't want to spend time on roles that I am not called to or on things society values more than Jesus does.  Yet if we are not aware of what our deep-down core goals are, we'll one day look around and suddenly find our home, schedule, and spirits maxed out again.

A few years ago, I found a worksheet intended to help anyone create a family mission statement.  I did more prewriting and brainstorming on that thing than I care to admit, and I put the worksheet away feeling a bit defeated.  Then last spring, Mark and I had a chance to dream and flesh it out together, finally getting a handle on what we pray will be the pulse of our family.

It took still five more months before we were able to get our plan concise enough to be easily referenced and memorable for all six of us.  (Truly, the older I get, the more I am learning that good things take time.)  Around this same time, a friend of mine launched a stellar sign-making business called Black Dog Workshoppe, and my hope for a family focus wall became a reality.

Our family is an anchor, and Jesus is our firm foundation.  When the world gets crazy, people disappoint us, or we make a mess of things, we can still count on our family as an anchor through the storms; we are for each other always.  And an anchor is only as good as what it holds to, so we want to keep our anchor on the firm foundation of Jesus.   

Our core values originally had many words and sub-points, but we needed them to be boiled down into quick catchphrases we could use to keep our focus.  When we have a family dinner that has everyone present and being teachable, we choose one aspect and start talking about what that looks like and why it matters.  Because of the richness of the Gospel, we'll have material for years of dinner conversation. 

We often hear the importance of strengthening and operating out of our physical core; this year, I want to focus on strengthening and operating out of our family's core.  To remember the why and to use that as a yardstick for decision-making.  To help our kids see life through a Jesus filter and to work as a unit to live out what that then calls us to do.  To keep our hearts and minds focused so that we can live for what really matters.  Because together, we're an anchor, and our foundation is firm.

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2015 Making Space

2014 Bridge-Building

2013 Purposeful