What Do We Value?

Core values are talked about and heavily thrown around these days. From companies, non-profits, and organizations, to sports teams and churches, everyone supposedly has core values that drive their company's decisions or create the culture of their organization. We once spent an entire staff retreat and the following season attempting to identify, pinpoint, and embrace our core values at The Brook. It’s a lot of work. Let me repeat and even rephrase that: It’s a LOT of very, very hard work! Here’s why:

You have to face the TRUTH.

Core Values don’t begin with the facade of who you say or think you are, but the TRUTH of who you really are and what you actually do.

To make this discovery, you have to walk through the woods of somehow objectively discerning the things you have held to be of most value. To be clear: It begins not by asking what do we want to hold up as most valuable, but what do we actually place the most value on. Only then, in discerning the truth of the past & present can you begin to determine if you want those values to change for the future.

Don’t waste time asking the question: Do we have core values? We all have them; in our homes, our families, our churches… We all place value on something. We all hold some things to be more important and valuable than other things. 

The real question is: Do we KNOW what we value? Are we valuing and elevating those things intentionally? Are we even aware of what we are placing the most value on in our home? Our church? Our company? Our family?

Are you just teaching your kids what to say and do…or what to value?

Are you only leading & telling your people where to go, what to do, and how to do it…or what to value?

If we truly value something, we will always go through the less-traveled road to understanding and explaining WHY. We will start there and end there. We’ll keep going back there along the way because we know that the act or event void of the reason or purpose is not really worth our time, energy and attention. If I tell my kids, “Always take less and go back for more rather than taking too much and throwing it out”, but I don’t teach them why, they may learn to do what I say, but they won’t learn the value of why I do it. 

We all have values. Let’s know what they are and live them out with conviction and purpose.