I was meeting with my Running Partners group last night, and we were discussing our new series at The Journey Building Your Dream Home, and there was a question that brought back painful memories for each of us.  It's the dreaded words on a Christmas present that says:  Some Assembly Required.  Which usually means LOTS of Assembly Required from unintelligible directions!  Many of us have stories of not paying attention or understanding the directions and just trying to put the new toy together only to spend hours trying to figure out why it didn't look like the picture.

When it comes to building your dream home (your family), there's "some assembly required".  It takes work, it takes effort, it takes focus.  Thank goodness that God has given us some directions, some guidance, and when we put together a blueprint, and follow His plans, when we build a foundation on His ways we have the potential to avoid lots of frustration and pain.

Here's 3 ways to make the process of assembling your dream home, less painful and frustrating & set your family up for a great legacy.  

1.  One way to begin assembling your family the right way is by working through our Family Vision Worksheet.  It will help you think about the big picture for your family and bring intentionality to who you are becoming as a family.

2.  Pray, pray, pray for your family.  More than just praying for their safety or blessing.  Pray that the characteristics that you come up with in the Family Vision Worksheet will become reality in their lives.  

3.  Put things on the calendar that will help you live out those characteristics.  If you fail to plan you plan to fail.  Want to be a family that's generous?  Schedule time to serve at a local charity.  Togetherness important?  Set aside scheduled time for family game nights or a snowball fight or make sure and sit at the dinner table together as a family. Following God part of your family vision?  Take time to pray together as a family.  Make a habit of coming to church together.  Talk about what God is teaching you with your kids.

There will be some assembly required, but following these 3 steps will help you be proactive not reactive and truly begin to focus on what matters 100 years from now.

 

Paul Urban