The Mom Project by Kathi Lipp

Author:Kathi Lipp
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736971997
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

Connection 9

Build a Legacy

Try This

Map out your family’s legacy.

Making the Connection

A few years ago, I overheard Kimberly trying to make plans to work on a school project with a friend. Her friend suggested Sunday night, and Kimber immediately said, “Oh, I can’t. We have family night on Sundays.”

Even now, we still have family night on Sunday nights. And our kids—who are all grown and living on their own—still keep their schedules free and join us for dinner, games, and time to talk. It’s just something our family does.

Whenever your kid says, “Well, that’s just something my family does,” he or she is identifying themselves with your family unit and everything your family stands for. By building family traditions, establishing family values, and giving voice to your family’s missions, you’re building a legacy for your kid.

For this connection, I want you to sit down with your kids and talk about what your family just does, whether it’s Saturday morning pancakes or yearly mission trips to Uganda. Then make a list and post it somewhere your family can see it and refer to it every day.

Make Connecting Fun

On my desk, I have a tiny framed verse: “Pray continually”—1 Thessalonians 5:17. This little framed verse is the cornerstone of our family legacy. And surrounding that verse is the frame, which reminds me of the other five tenets of our family legacy:

Faithfulness

Responsibility

Attitude

Mercy

Encouragement

Here’s my family’s legacy list to help inspire you:

1. In our family, we pray for each other.

In his book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, Philip Yancey notes, “Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same two themes: why God doesn’t act the way we want God to, and why I don’t act the way God wants me to.” He goes on to say, “Prayer is the precise point where those themes converge.”

I’ve struggled to make it a priority to make my house a house of prayer. And I’ve made my best effort to model prayerfulness to my children from the time they were little kids. I pray (both aloud and on my own) for each of my children to grow in the attributes God wants to see in them. I pray as they wrestle with challenges. I pray as they make decisions. And I daily pray and thank God for each family member.

I’ve also worked to create an environment where sharing prayer requests is a natural part of being in our family. I let my kids know that when they are struggling with a decision, not only am I there to talk about it, but I’m praying about it, whether they want to talk or not.

Prayer is our most important family legacy. But we have five other principles we value as well.

2. In our family, we value faithfulness.

“All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37).

My Kimberly is a smart cookie. When she was about three, her pediatrician said to me, “Either that kid is going to get into a world of hurt, or she is going to be the leader of a small nation.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.