Hebrews 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God
Yet again this book is calling me out on my biggest spiritual weakness - my struggles with trusting in God to provide. I plan, I organize, I do formulas! I actually really liked the suggestion of having a parenting "philosophy" based on desired outcomes, rather than a "plan"/"formula" - I think it's a happy medium between having forethought and being potentially too acute.
"If you do not have a plan or a philosophy, then you will try to fit your life into other people's plans. God has made each couple with the freedom to create their own family culture. The sooner you decide to embrace your own values, preferences, strengths, and weaknesses, the more you will become who God made you and your husband to be."
This prompted me to engage Adam in a discussion about what we want our family outcomes/"legacies" to be - the conversation wasn't very long because I think we're pretty transparent about our values. Adam and I are different in a lot of ways, but we also have a lot of shared goals for ourselves and our family.
- Value of Hard Work
- Active & Healthy Lifestyle
- Service & Compassion
- Logical Thinking
- Curiosity & Creativity
- Importance of Education
- Sports / Extracurriculars
- Appreciation for Quality Family Time
I like the idea of using these values as a "litmus test" for future family decisions and activities. This conversation led to an unfinished conversation of how to go about fostering these values in our family - ex: sitting at the table together for dinner to build appreciation for quality family time... Some of our goals are more concrete than others - so it's naturally going to be an ongoing conversation :-)
I really appreciated Sally's narrative and advice at the end of the chapter - "be yourself; be the best and most excellent and most righteous self you can be, but live in the freedom of God's call and design on your own life."
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