Sowing Seeds Of Culture

The Tribal Family recognizes “family” as the first spiritual community God designed – one intended to be a tangible experience of life in God’s Kingdom, naturally endowed from one generation to the next.

That statement became real for us in our first year of marriage. Wanting to build a firm foundation we put our heads together to ask what we could work on.

In those early conversations we identified “empathy” as a slogan which could help knit us together and make us a united force. From there, we began to look for opportunities to give that word life. 

In that work, the spirit of these verses became our mantra:

Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor.
– Romans 12:10

Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
– Philippians 2:3-4

It became a game to us – trying to “outdo one another” in serving each other, giving honor, and looking out for each other's interests.

Immediately we experienced the goodness of our efforts.

The world outside was harsh. But our family of two was seasoning life with goodness – like salt to a feast, or sunlight to a garden in bloom.

Though we didn’t know it or plan for it, that game of outdoing each other in legitimate care and love was the seed of our current family culture – twenty years later.

Marriage has a way of becoming more complex as we add years and add children. Having a habit of empathy is difficult to maintain. But the longer we do it, we build up a "spiritual muscle memory" – where our hearts begin to move in empathy without our explicit instruction. 

The seed of a redemptive culture in your family will grow more naturally the longer you cultivate it. It is hard work. But there comes a time when it will take on a life of its own – offering your whole family shade, and tasty fruit.