Every family has a vibe. It’s how a family rolls. It’s based on a family paradigm – a vision. Today, I want to talk about my vision for a family. My vision for a family is a cohesive unit that grows, matures, does things and enjoys doing them, and is equipped to reproduce itself.
My main effort, from a strategic point of view, would be founding the family as a wise, little, stocky institution. (An alternative is climbing the corporate ladder and become CEO of a complex bureaucratic corporation, but that would leave my family – if I had one – thin, sickly, and perhaps in the hospital more often than not.)
The family institution that I found doesn’t need to make the nightly news or have thousands of adoring fans. It needs to be well-built, sincere, and have at least some grit in the face of suffering and apathetic onlookers. (Because that is the reality it will face in our culture.) It will be worth the effort.
I want the institution to be faithful. I want it to outlast me. Rather than leave endowment money, I purpose to leave behind one day both the institution and as much productive property as I can – hopefully to edify and assist those who follow after.
I’m seeking to fashion this small institution carefully for others who will follow. I want to dig deep and build its foundations on solid rock. The institutional framework is to be built from uncompromising, solid beams; it’s joints fitting together tightly. The roof must be free of leaks and any leaks easily detectable. It should provide warm, strong, reliable shelter for its inhabitants. Built so that when the storms come and the wind blows, it will endure.
Next, my institution needs to be engaged in producing something. I want to sell a product or results, not my time. At some location – possibly a house – all the members of my little platoon would work together on a daily basis. Here, each member has a sense of ownership and the head of the household is merely encouraging and directing their contribution in ways best suited to their efforts and abilities. This will give them purpose and meaning. Rather than merely consume, it is vital that the institution produce in order to mature and grow.
(A maturing and growing institution is naturally vigrous and alive. In modern America, the family is on lifesupport in part because there is no production. We have easy lives and recreation galore, in exchange for much of what God intended the family to be. We are filled with food and material goods but empty of meaning and satisfaction. In this environment morals have proven extremely difficult to maintain. By all accounts it has been a Faustian bargin.)
The family institution must be fenced roundabout with justice and familiar protection provided by the head of the household. The fences will allow allocation of the results equitably and generosity to outsiders.
While institutional fences can discourage sin, they will not eliminate it. Sin is a reality – both within and without. To be a robust institution, relationships within it must be nutured in good times and, after transgression, be reconciled and restored upon repentance. This is perhaps a very difficult component, but just as vital as production to the health of the institution.
Here in this institution, others can be served and receive hope – vision for their futures. Then they too, can build their own institutions, and so on, repeating the cycle until there are thousands of little institutions – all different with the unique makeup and personalities of their members and full of poignant meaning. I have no illusions to life as such being easy and I ackowledge it is possibly not for everyone. I pray my puny efforts would be in God’s plans for me. I trust that, with his blessing, my efforts will ultimately bring mountains of joy and hope to a civilization that needs it badly.
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Is. 40:31
*Unfortunately, I do not have a source for the title picture. I’ve had it for many years. I nicknamed the three beavers “Wink’n, Blink’n, and Nod”. 🙂
