Values

As part of this year of development, I went through the exercise of coming up with a list of core values.  I've come across this idea before, but this weekend I decided to just jump in and knock this out.

I started with this list of potential values.  While it's not exhaustive, I thought it was a great start.  I worked through this list and made a short list of those that were important to me, culling the list from 400+ to about 45, and finally down to about 10.  Of those, I want my life to be defined by two central ideas: humility and unshakable trust in God.

Without further ado, here are the core values I came up with:

• Embrace and pursue humility.
• Trust in God, even when circumstances indicate I shouldn't; choose faith above fear, doubt or anger.
• Live authentically, continually uncovering, growing, and walking in God's design for me.
• Speak life-giving words to others, encouraging and loving them.
• Take risks and be courageous, playing offense for the Kingdom.
• Intentionally invest in others -- in friendships, in students, in ministry -- giving time, resources, and my heart to serve them and create environments where they can grow.
• Live in, foster, and help create community -- sharing life, its struggles, joys, disappointments, and victories with others.
• Laugh and enjoy life, seeing humor in everyday situations and seeking out chances to find joy.

These values will (and to some degree already have) shape what types of opportunities I will pursue and how I will live life.  I am grateful to have them articulated now so I can use them and make sure I'm staying true to who I am as I work through this year of development and uncertainty in my career path after this year.