My Theory

I have this theory I’m convinced of, that people grow through two things: (1) Meaningful traditions practiced repeatedly, and (2) Events that totally take you out of your norm.  We grow individually that way, we grow as families that way, we grow in relationships that way.

Think about it: What do you remember from when you were a kid?  The meaningful things your family did regularly (“We went to Burger King every Friday night and talked about our weeks…” “We would go camping every Memorial Day weekend…”) and the special once-in-a-lifetime kind of events (“We went white water river rafting once and I’ll never forget…”  “One Christmas we went to a homeless shelter and spent the day…”)

I bet the same is true in your relationship with God.  What has caused it to grow?  The meaningful things you do repeatedly (maybe spending time in prayer and worship) and the special events that got you out of normal (perhaps a mission trip you went on).

Because of my theory, we’ve tried to build this into the life of our family.  For instance, I am crazy cheap, but the one thing I will save for and spend money on are family vacations and family mission trips.  Because I know that’s a big part of what will bond our family together, and what my kids will be talking about years from now.

We also have built a bunch of traditions into our family, some small, some a little bigger.  And I thought I’d share some of them over the next couple weeks.  So if you’re interested in that, be looking for those posts.  And if you’re not, ummm, don’t read ’em?