A Family Mission Statement And An Invitation

When I  think of different people,
there are often particular images that come to mind--
like when I think of Southerners,
I think of hospitality, easy-going smiles, corner churches,
and Friday night football.

When I think of people I know,
I generally think of their family members,
the house they live in,
where they work,
but mostly,
how they treat others,
or what I know to be important to them.

The older my family grows,
the more clear our family identity becomes
to each of us...
my southern roots show when we invite others
into our home,
around our dinner table,
and share whatever we might have to offer.

If you were a fly on the wall at our house,
you would get an earfull--
lots of joking around,
laughter,
poking at each other,
and inevitably the conversations come around
to the topic of sharing the gospel.

That's just a natural consequence in our circles of friends.
We don't sit around and tap our noggins
trying to think of whom we can share our testimonies with--
we're not that good of planners, honestly.
But, being friendly to start with,
we make new friends easily,
and it goes from there.

IN his book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families",
Stephen Covey admonishes the creation of a
Family Mission Statement,
to create purpose and unity within the family.
And while we haven't sat down together and formally
created our own mission statement,
there is a recognition of at least one of our
familial callings,
Missionary Work.

Our family identity is centered on
The Restored Gospel.
We are missionaries.
It's what we do--
The Colonel does KFC chicken
and we share the gospel.

Last week,
Nana started a new semester in college.
In one of her classes,
she was chosen as a partner by a classmate,
as part of a class assignment to write about someone
and introduce them to the rest of the class--
he said,
"I wanted to choose someone who would be interesting.
I knew if I chose you, I wouldn't be disappointed. You're a Mormon.
I choose you."
Then he proceeded to tell her about himself--
he's married and has a child and he's an Athiest.
This last week, they set aside some time to work on the project
with another classmate Nana invited into their group as well.
Nana was surprised that he'd chosen her solely because of her faith,
and welcomed the chance to share what she knows and how she feels
about what she knows.

Nana was excited.
Before she left for the meeting,
we had a few minutes to talk about
what sharing the Gospel means to her,
and how much our family is defined
by this calling of missionary work.

All of us, from the youngest to the oldest,
share this calling together.
We are a Family,
A Work in progress,
and we are also missionaries for
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"...if ye have a desire, ye are called to the work."

So I'm just wondering--
has your family created their own mission statement?
As we are all missionaries for something,
What are you missionaries for?
If you'd like more information about creating a Family Mission Statement,
take a look over at Simple Mom.

Something to Share:
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