Know-Love-Obey God

(High Calling Blogs Book Club:
Loving Monday, by John Beckett, Chapters 18-21
See Laura Boggess’s post (and links to other Book Club posts) here.)

I shake my head a bit and smile at the fact that both “The Balancing Act” and “Vision” are in this week’s Book Club chapters. I sigh in the recollection that, not too long ago, having a “vision statement” was terrible for my family.

When I signed up for this blog on WordPress and came to the part where I had to decide on a blog title and URL, I realized I hadn’t given it any thought. On the spot I decided on “My Big Three,” after what I called a life focus (= vision statement) with that same name. My first post was about this three-part life focus:

- the advancement of the Gospel
- the edification of His Church
- the glory of His name

I thought my “big three” was perfect; it included everything—family, homeschool, church life, friends. It was good for life.

Except, it wasn’t. Yes, I can say that husband and children are included in that vision statement—generally. But because it was a vision statement, those words—advancement of the Gospel, edification of the Body—are what stood out for me, front and center. The vision statement filled my vision; the life focus zoomed my focus. And it made a difference that the word “family” was not explicitly in it. I began spending more and more time starting and building relationships outside the home, and my family suffered for it.

A few months later, I spent several weeks on some gut-level (and deeper) rethinking, not only on these three, but on the big picture—the reason and reasoning behind having a mission statement, or vision statement, or purpose statement, or . . . life focus.

The (severely truncated) thought process and conclusion: for a life focus statement, the more general, the better (like the two greatest commandments). A good guideline for me is:

The more specific a vision statement, the more frequently I need to revisit it, to rehash, rethink, re-evaluate—because, for me, to have a focus that’s too narrow introduces the danger of leaving out what is unmentioned (like “love,” or “family”).

Then, I had to change my blog title and my “About” page. (Unfortunately, I’m stuck with the URL. But fortunately, “Know-Love-Obey God” also has three parts, so it still works. Kinda.)

Although my original “Big Three” (above) seems general enough, it was too specific for life—for all of my life. Summary here.

Redirected and Rethinking
(written June 2009)

I saw a map and on it found
my way. I was looking
for direction and found it.
The route passed through everything
that was most important; I was
sure of it.
I had the perfect compass,
good for life; I was sure of it.
Good for all of life, to the end
of my days, all of my days.
The way pointed to and through;
it was all-emcompassing, I was sure.

Then lines faded. I missed
roads I should have taken, my vision
being too narrow
for the time.

The map, it was still good,
but I do not have
to know where I am going,
as long as I know
The Way.
I look not to the map but keep
my soul-gaze on The Way.

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(Portions of this post are from the archives.)