A family compass provides crucial direction. It establishes a standard of normal, healthy living against which a person’s actions, attitudes and beliefs can be measured.

Four Compass Principles

1. The legacy principle: What we do today will directly influence the multigenerational cycle of family traits, beliefs and actions — for good or bad.

2. The likelihood principle: In the context of healthy relationships, children tend to embrace the values of their parents.

3. The lenses principle: Our children need the corrective lenses of truth in order to navigate the deceptive roads of life.

4. The learning principle: Our children can learn only what we teach them in a manner that will reach them. To be effective teachers, we must understand their basic nature and their stage in life.

1. Personal Worth: We have self worth and dignity because we are made in the image of God. It doesn’t matter how we look, how smart we are, or what we can and can’t do. We are valuable because God made us. So, we treat others with respect because of who they are, not what they’ve done.

2. Responsibility: We are responsible for our own actions and attitudes. We must accept the fact that life is difficult for everyone, and blaming other people or circumstances for our problems is foolish. God will bless us as we make right choices.

3. Sexuality: We are created either male of female — each an expression of God’s perfect image. Both sexes have unique strengths, passions and needs designed to be attractive to the other and to be affirmed and fulfilled only within the context of marriage and family life.

4. Integrity: God reveals the truth, expecting us to incorporate it into every aspect of life. Integrity means integrating the truth into how we live.

5. Discipline: Good things come to those who are willing to work and wait. Discipline is the ability to put off immediate pleasures for something even better down the road.