Developing Faith-Building Family Traditions without Burning Out
As we build our home life, family traditions inevitably become a key part of the fabric of our family’s time together. These are the ways of being which will mark our time together. Our family traditions form the tapestry of our life as we celebrate holidays, birthdays, and moments in time particular to our own family.
Family Traditions Build Over Time
Very quickly we start to feel the pressure of traditions. It easily becomes a four letter word; however, that need not be the case!
If your family is just starting off, you may feel like you have no traditions. That is how it should be. Both husband and wife bring their family’s ways into a marriage. The couple must find how they will take from these and make their own. This process takes time. The organic development of them is best.
A few years ago, I decided to create A Very Big Garden and to spread mulch around the fruit trees in our front yard in the course of a couple months. I effectively decided to single-handedly overhaul a quarter of an acre of my yard all at once. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go well.
Before summer’s end, the mulch was covered up in grass. The garden soil—which I did not amend—hardened around the plants and choked them. All my efforts were eliminated.
The good that came from it was to show me the best way to expand my garden: bit by bit over time. That too is how traditions grow.
Mind Your Limits
Another lesson I learned from The Great Garden Debacle was that I have very real limitations. I am not able to do it all, and neither are you.
So in our family traditions we must not forget our humanity. We cannot do it all. That truth is not a problem to solve but a reality to embrace, because the people in our families will enjoy the peaceful person who does fewer things well than the frenzied person trying to do it all.
Remember: we are going for faithful and wise [link to purposeful simplicity blog post]
Create Traditions That Build Faith
Some of our traditions will be directly related to faith such as Christmas and Easter. Others will not, but that does not mean they can not be faith-building.
Ways of celebrating birthdays, marking the seasons, and gathering with extended family give our children the sense of belonging and rejoicing that comes with having a family. Ultimately, these experiences connect us to the goodness of God: that we belong to someone who rejoices over us both individually and collectively.
Inspiration for Building Family Traditions
Here are a few books that have helped me think about and develop our own family traditions.
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For the Family’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Susan Schaeffer Macaulay provides a description of the importance of family routines both daily and annual. She offers various ways you might build traditions into your home life.
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Celebrating the Christian Year by Martha Zimmerman
Zimmerman gives an overview of the Christian Church calendar and ways you might observe the different seasons and holy days.
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To the Tenth Generation by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. and Jani Ortlund.
This is such a good book for envisioning the longevity of your family traditions and how they can outlive you. The Ortlunds give a compelling vision for the way each generation can impact thousands for good!
As we build family traditions, may we remember our frame and create a faith-building culture in our home that gives life for many generations to come!
