08.03.20 The 1st Practice for Developing a Healthy Approach to Cultural and Family Influence as You Wait Reflect on How Your Upbringing Shaped Your Values

1. Reflect on How Your Upbringing Shaped Your Values

Reflect deeply on your upbringing and its impact on your beliefs about relationships, marriage and family. Awareness strengthens responsibility and understanding your cultural and family patterns can help you identify areas of strength and weakness. Take time to identify how your family environment shaped your views on communication, authority, conflict resolution and expectations within marriage. Do not treat these influences as neutral or automatic, because many of them were absorbed in childhood and may still be shaping your responses without deliberate examination. Scripture encourages the pursuit of such understanding, reminding us that “wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). Consider carefully which patterns strengthened your values and which may weaken unity in your relationship. Allow this reflection to help you retain what is healthy and reshape what may hinder the kind of home you intend to build.