If you're lost, your map tells you where to go to get back home, but it doesn't tell you how. The "how" is not the important part. It doesn't matter if you ride the bus, fly, walk or ride a unicycle. The point is not in the how, but in the where.
A family mission statement can help by defining our "where." We can then check our daily actions against our mission statement to see if our "how" is getting us to our destination.
An example mission statement may look something like this:
"Our family will grow closer to each other every day in a way that forms stronger, long lasting relationships."
"Everyone that walks into our house will know, by our actions, that our house is a house of love."
"We will change our neighborhood by being true examples of our faith."
These are by NO MEANS perfect (or maybe not even good), but they do one thing. They define a destination, a beacon if you will. We then get to determine how we will get there. Family night? Honest talks about real life? Spiritual guidance? "Dinner with a neighbor" night?
There are millions of options for "how", but the "how" doesn't matter until you define the "where." I'd challenge you to write your personal and or family mission statement.
[If choose to write a mission statement, please share by posting your mission statement on Facebook or where ever else you may read this post. If we do this together, we can all have better mission statements!]