I’ve noticed this theme in my life lately, in so many different areas of my life I’ve been asking the same questions:
What is our plan?
Who are we?
Where are we going?
What are we doing?
What is our message?
What is our mission?

I’m realizing that in these different areas of my life (the different organizations I’m involved in, Tangle, my family) I can’t move forward without these questions answered.

A few months ago a friend of mine told me about some advice she was given for her family. She and her husband were told to write a mission statement for their family: a governing set of rules and values and goals that determined the direction of their family. I was completely blown away by this concept and walked away from my conversation with her feeling like my world was rocked, my life was totally changed.

Since then I’ve been thinking about what the master plan for my little family will be. I’ve been thinking about what I want to define us: plans, goals, directions and values like grace and bravery and love and compassion. I’ve been telling my kids this – what defines our family. When they are afraid of something, I say things like, “Our family is a brave family. Even if we are afraid, we still do what needs to be done, even if it scares us.” It’s amazing how when I tell them these statements about our family they just accept them as fact.

“What? Our family is brave? Ok, then I guess I will be brave.”

Laying out our master family plan gives us something to refer to when things come up – decisions that need to be made or conflicts that need to be settled. And it gives each person a defining role – this is who we are and this is how and where I belong. I’m starting to see just how valuable this is to a family, a business, an organization. And I’ve started to wonder how anyone/thing functions without a master plan? It’s amazing that so many people/entities can operate without a vision. They are going somewhere, they just don’t know where. (How much of my life has been lived like this?)

So in all the areas of my life I’m starting to look for the big picture. I find myself asking these questions of the organizations I’m involved in because I don’t know how to move forward without knowing where we’re going. And in doing so, I get to be part of the process of defining their master plans. I get to dream and help mold where we’re going and it is SO fun.

In my family I’m still writing our master plan. It’s hard doing this by myself – I am such a collaborator – but I feel this is the single most important thing I can do for us. My kids need to know exactly how they fit into our family; knowing where they belong will give them so much security. And I need to know what defines us so when decisions get big or things get blurry, I know where I’m going, how I’m going to get there and what kind of values are going to get me there.

Proverbs says: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” And I’m starting to see just how true that is. I am so abundantly thankful for these lessons I’m learning.