“Write the vision; make it plain, so that whoever reads it can run with it.”
Habakkuk 2:2

Picture yourself sitting down to open up and play a brand new board game with a group of friends. What are the first questions you might ask before you start playing? How do you play this game? What is the point of this game? How does a person win? Am I trying to collect the most cards, or get rid of the cards I have? Am I trying to move my pieces around the board or not? These are all questions that are valid and helpful in learning how to play and how to win. Knowing the point of the game is very important if you actually want to have success playing it. In fact, you can't win if you don't know how to win. Here's another visual to drive home this important point. Imagine watching a basketball game where one team knows the point of the game (winning) is getting the ball into the basket and scoring points, but the other team thinks winning is simply whoever dribbles the most. What would happen? The team that thought winning was dribbling would get absolutely destroyed on the scoreboard to the point of embarrassment. And at the end of the game, they would wonder why they had lost. They had done what they had set out to do. They had dribbled the ball way more than the other team. So why did they still lose? The point here is that when you don't understand what the point or goal is, you will not be successful and you will not win. That may seem like a ridiculous example, but the same thing happens when it comes to many households. Even within Christian households, many families end up losing and being unsuccessful from a biblical perspective because they don't understand what success looks like according to God's plan. They didn't understand what a healthy God-honoring family culture even looked like. They didn't understand what the point of parenting was according to scripture. And because they didn't understand this, they were not successful. The truth is that your family needs a clear, healthy, biblical vision, values, and direction. The problem is that most households don't have that and don't even know they need it. They don't have any sort of shared vision or values. There is no unified direction, end goal, or destination. They don't know what or what success looks like in marriage or parenting. They assume that successful parenting is simply raising children who are smart or get a good job. Most homes don't talk about their values, clarify their convictions, or even agree on a common vision. Because of this lack of clarity, families get caught up in busyness and the pursuit of the wrong things, and many problems come from that.

Here are a few common examples of holding onto an unhealthy and incorrect view of winning and success: If your vision or goal as a parent is only to get your kids into a top Ivy League school, then something is off. Why? Because many educated people are bound for hell. Many financially successful people live ungodly, unholy, and unfulfilled lives. If your vision is just that your kids are more successful than you, making more money, with more toys, then that is also wrong and there will be consequences. If your vision is just that your kids are happier than you were, that is also not a Godly vision. If your vision is only that you raise nice and kind kids, then you will most likely raise kids who compromise and avoid speaking the truth. The problem is that whatever your end goal and vision are, it will determine how your limited resources of time, focus, energy, and money are spent. Here's an example: If you are convinced your child will become a sports star, then that priority determines that you dedicate time, pour money into travel, and sacrifice effort, energy, and focus. 10 years later, the young adult might be a rising college star, or maybe they got hurt or lost interest. However, either way, if they are not planted in the church, not living a God-honoring life, and instead living for themselves, then according to the Bible, this is not a success. Oftentimes, this lack of success according to the Bible can be traced back to having the wrong vision, values, and priorities in the home. We want to help you and your spouse start developing a successful and biblical vision for your home. This is where Habakkuk 2:2 comes in. That short verse gives three simple steps to getting started in aligning success with God's word. #1. Write down what is in your heart. Talk about what the vision is for your family with your spouse. What do you want your family to be known for and to value and prioritize above all else? Find something you can agree on that the Bible also agrees with. Then write it down. #2. Make it plain and clear, not confusing or ambiguous. Use the simplest words possible when you write your new family vision. #3. Pass it on. Teach it to your children. Talk about it as often as you can. Encourage your children to believe in it. Model it in your own lives so that your children see that these things are important to you. In this way, those in your home can understand it, adopt it as their own, and run with it.

The point of this first devotional is not to clarify and lay out what a biblical vision for your family is, but to simply get you to a place where you understand the importance of having one and the consequences of what happens when you do not. Over the course of this track, there will be more useful resources and ideas to help you in crafting a vision and values that align with God's Word.