Unpacking our Family Motto
Does your family have a motto?
I recently asked this on social media and here are some of the responses I received:
@mattdantodd Work hard and be nice to people. I hung a print in the hallway.
— Heather Sokol (@JustHeather) January 1, 2017
@mattdantodd choose joy. Which broken down really just means choose Jesus.
— Kyle Reese 🎄 (@KyleJReese) January 1, 2017
Those are some pretty good responses. If your family doesn’t have a motto, you might consider stealing borrowing one of these. Family mottos are kind of like mission statements. They can be a guiding force, helping to direct your family along the way. Even the House of El has a family motto (“Stronger Together,” according to the Supergirl TV series).
Apparently, the Todd family has had a motto for decades. Maybe even for centuries. I don’t really know how long it has been the Todd Family Motto or if it even has a direct connection with my family. Either way, I’ve come to claim it as our own.
“It behooves us to live.”
Sounds familiar. Right? I mean, you see it right up there in the header.
It’s only five words long. But those five words say a lot, don’t they? With so much packed into so few words, I plan on spending some time unpacking the message of our family motto. This statement isn’t just our family motto. It has also become the underlying force behind this site. In many ways, it’s become this blog’s mission statement.
So here’s the deal: once a week for the next few weeks (or maybe the whole year – I haven’t decided yet), I’m going to share thoughts about what “It behooves us to live!” means in our everyday lives. It might be a quote. It might be a word or a definition or even a long essay or a short video. I’m not entirely sure how it will manifest itself as the weeks unfold. But it will be a journey. An encouraging, inspiring, and challenging journey. And there might be a little bit of fun thrown in from time to time, too.
Who knows? Maybe you have something to say about our family motto. What does “It behooves us to live!” mean to you? Maybe you’d like to share your thoughts in a guest post? I’m certainly open to that. Shoot me an email and let’s get to work!
For today, I leave you with the same question I asked at the beginning of this post. Do you have a family motto? If so, what is it? Please share it in the comments below!
You don’t want to miss this series. So why not go ahead and sign up for the weekly newsletter or “Like” my page on facebook?
You can sign up for the newsletter here.
Latest posts by Matt Todd (see all)
- What would your liftoff song(s) be? - April 12, 2024
- My solar eclipse playlist (redux) - April 6, 2024
- Our Colorado bison encounter (aka how we almost became THAT viral video family) - March 23, 2024
