Mission By Example

I was sitting on the couch today going over plans for our next trip when my six year old daughter, Londyn, sat down next to me and said, “We have to go to Virginia because you want to make the world better, don’t you? Not just our family, but other families too.”

I said, “Yes” and smiled. I didn’t need to say anything else. It was very clear to me that she had developed an understanding of my mission.

Talk About Mission

As a family, we talk about mission a lot. We try to analyze what other people’s missions might be. We talk about what kinds of skills we need to develop to find our personal missions. Every day, as part of our Peck Family Mission statement, we say “…Heavenly Father guides and loves each of us, so that we can fulfill our life’s missions.”

So, I guess we talk about mission quite a bit. It is by design. My goal is to make joyful adults, who know what their mission in life is and can’t wait to fight for it, and have solid relationships with God and family.

Since I put so much effort into inspiring the truth that God has a specific mission for each of us, it was a huge moment for me when my six year old came to me with some of her thoughts about my mission. It was wonderful to know that she sees what I do.

Fulfillment Teaches

Fulfilling our missions, as parents, teaches our children that they have a responsibility to find out how God wants them to “make the world better” too. It is overwhelming to think about pursuing a mission when we have children running at our feet. Lucky for us, nurturing the children at our feet is the greatest mission we will ever do. Do that first, then, if you can take a few minutes a week, and work on that other thing you feel called to learn, do, say or write.

A few minutes a week of focus on something you are passionate about can inspire more than any conversation on the subject of mission will ever do.