A Purpose That Outlives You

Marriage

In the movie, The Rookie, the children on the school baseball team encourage their coach to try out for the majors. The coach promised that if they had an excellent season he would try out for the majors. This vision, desiring their coach to try out for the majors, drove these kids to improve their game.

What is so powerful about vision?

It gives you a place to focus your energy!

Most of married life, and life in general, is made up of very ordinary events--picking up the laundry, cooking a meal, changing a diaper, going to work, attending back to school night, feeding the dog, and the list goes on.

Tonight we want to pull above the muck of the ordinary and be more visionary. As our lives become more visionary, it gives meaning to the ordinary events of everyday life.

We want to look tonight at the idea of having a purpose for your marriage and your family—knowing where you want to go as a family.

To give perspective I called tonight’s topic "A Purpose That Outlives You." At its core the family is the most foundational building block of life, and the most powerful foundation for the future. It is out of the context of family that we do everything we do. Think of how great it would be for your family to be involved in something that will outlive them.

General discussion:

What are some things that a family can be involved with, that will outlive them?

Their Own Children, Church, Children's and Youth Ministry, Buildings, Universities, Hospitals, Building Restoration.

Costly Effort

From what we have seen, when we get involved in something that will outlive us it will be costly at some level.

You have to be Others Centered.

You will not make an impact without giving time, energy, talent, and finances.

There will be things you will not be able to do because you are investing time on your mission.

Questions To Consider As a Couple

We have provided some questions for you to talk about as a couple, to help you develop your family's vision.

Why don’t you, now, sit down a look at these questions with your spouce? Come back to this talk after you have talked about these questions.

See Discussion Questions, Set 1

After the Discussion:

As part of the ongoing reflection on your mission as a family remember that you can start at the beginning. This does not have to be some grand scheme, but can just be a simple act of kindness to a family, or friend.

The movie, “Pass it On” talked about someone who did kind things for 3 people and told them not to pay them back, but to pass it on to others. The impact multiplied and spread to thousands.

This discussion is an ongoing discussion as a family. I hope as you grow that your vision and your heart will grow as well.

Take Action

Now that you have a sense of something you would like to do, take another few minutes to go through this next set of questions about specific actions you can take to move toward your goal.

Questions about Actions You Will Take, Set 2