A Case for Traditions

When my wife and I got married one of the odd things that we decided we want to be very serious about is traditions. We are serious about our traditions. Whether it is things we do over the summer, around the holidays, for birthdays, etc. We love traditions. The reason for this is that we know time moves quickly. There are plenty of statistics out there, but I believe two things put this into perspective. First, about 90 percent of the time that you spend with your children will be over with by the time that they turn 18. Secondly, we know that as a family we want to have time spent together, and memories made even our children are grown, and we have grandchildren, and great grandchildren! With that in mind we started taking intentional steps to create traditions as a family that have become some of the best memories and are days, we look forward to all year round. Naturally around the holiday season people consider the traditions that they observe, and even sometimes consider new traditions that they want to begin building. Here are three reasons why you should consider creating traditions for your family!

Traditions build excitement.

Life is busy. I know this, and so do you. If we are not careful the time we have each day, week, month, and year can slip through our fingers before we are even ready. When you create intentional traditions, it is a targeted step towards pushing back against the business of life. When there are traditions, you have built, it creates moments that you are excited about. There are moments that you look forward to. One small example of this is how we have built a tradition that we observe every Christmas eve. On Christmas eve, we eat Chili (because why not?). We also have each of our children pick out one small present for each of their siblings and exchange them on Christmas eve. My favorite part of this is that it creates a spirit amongst our children of keeping others in mind. They love to pick things out for their siblings. This type of mindset, putting others first, comes before the part where they receive on Christmas day. Because of this tradition, our children look forward to that day every single year. Leading up to the day, they start talking about what they are going to pick out for each other. They know the day is coming and start building up the anticipation leading up to it. What could this look like for you? Are there ways that you can create traditions to build excitement around values you have for your family?

Traditions fortify rhythms.

I am unique in that I love rhythms. Every day of the week I have an alarm set and each day is set specifically around a set of tasks, or a gameplan for that day. There are some days targeted around work that needs to get done. Some days are orientated around rest. Those days are set up just for the purpose of our family having margin. I have an alarm set on my phone for 5:00am every day. It’s become so hardwired in my brain that even if my alarm doesn’t go off for some reason, I naturally wake up around that same time. I can’t sleep in more than 30 minutes even if I wanted to! For some of you, this sounds like torture, and the good news for you is that personal rhythms are totally up to each person! There are rhythms that you can create both big and small that help to fortify the rhythms you have that create space for you. When these traditions become rhythm, they create space for you to step out of the hustle and bustle of life and see things from a different perspective. I have heard it said that a change of place, and a change of pace creates perspective. That perspective can help to settle you and remind you of the things that matter most in life!

Traditions create legacies.

Every single summer on the week of the fourth of July my family takes vacation. My family knows that without fail, outside of extenuating circumstances I will be on a beach (with fireworks) every single year. The reason Hannah, and I have done this is that we want to create a legacy to pass down to our children and grandchildren. This legacy is one that is about spending time together and making memories. I am a person who would much rather create rich and lasting memories that will outlive me, than building up a wealth of physical items that will rust, breakdown, and eventually become junk. We have spoken vision about that week of fourth of July that we want to see our family, gathering, making those memories every single summer as long as we live. We believe those memories are going to become our legacy. As we do that, we will get a chance every year to speak life into our family for a whole week every year. We pray that this legacy allows us to step away from daily life and intentionally grow the lives of our family.

The truth is that the world is loud, and time is passing right before our eyes. My prayer is that as you and I invest time and energy into traditions that we create traditions that become a legacy that outlives us. When we do this, we are putting together the puzzle pieces of our lives that become a message that we send for generations to come. The traditions our family has created were intentional because they create a legacy and hold up values that we want to pass on to our children. As you consider this holiday season what traditions you currently have, and the ones that you might want to begin… Consider the values that you want to pass on. If you want to pass on a value of generosity, create a tradition around it. If you want to pass on a value of relationships, create a tradition around it. If you want to pass on a value of sharing the gospel, create a tradition around it! At the end of the day, my prayer for you is that you can look back years and years from now, and see the fruits of traditions you created today!