The Personal Mission, Vision and Values Statement and Why You Should, Before You Buy Your Next Planner, Write Yours So That Your Planner Works For YOU and not you For It.

xenia williams
11 hours ago
6 min read

The Mission, Vision, and Values Statement Should Reflect the Mission, Vision, and Values of the Church as shared through its Liturgical cycles and its Holy Bible.

Sts Peter and Paul, Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Church: Note Peter Holds Keys and Paul Holds a Book

I want to start this blog with two quotes by St. Theophan the Recluse:

"...I think many people do not live as they should, because they think that rules about the worthwhile life are outwardly imposed, and, not springing from man's very nature, are therefore not needed by them. If they were certain that there were such rules, they would not transgress them and fall away from them."

"No matter which degree a person is at, other aspects of his life remain inherent within him. He is not so enslaved at any one degree that he could not be freed from its bondage, but always has the opportunity to change from one degree to another, after he has weakened one aspect of his life and strengthened another. Thus, even a spiritual man may fall into intellectuality and carnality, and the carnal man may rise up to spirituality, when the former becomes enamored of the intellectual and the carnal, and the latter of the spiritual life. Man is always free. Freedom is given to him along with consciousness of self, and together they constitute the essence of the spirit and the standard of humanity. Extinguish freedom and consciousness of self, and you extinguish the spirit, and man is no longer man. "

Many people think they will get a planner, put in their tasks, and do them, and as long as the tasks are finished, this will constitute an orderly life. Such people who succeed in merely scratching off a task from a list can find even themselves living but mere partial lives, and this task fulfillment, in of itself, can become a drudge, a prison, from which those of us on the path to recovery from say, anxiety, depression, procrastination, or post-traumatic stress disorder, rise up in rebellion. For the planner has become a mirror of ourselves as a slave driver that takes naught consideration of our maladaptations to stress, or the way a task can actually trigger some anxiety or depressive episode, and when we cannot fulfill its demands, we rebel against it in two ways.

Simply by becoming disobedient and ignoring the planner
Or by giving in to harmful habitual ways of being, because we have not lived up to our image of ourselves as this perfect being conforming to external laws of being.

In both cases, we feel guilty and ashamed, and the planner, or lack thereof, becomes a witness to our failure once again to create order in our lives or to begin living a worthwhile life according to external obligations. But the Church teaches about internal natural inclinations derailed by a certain innate disorderliness of our soul.

Thus, St. Theophan speaks of the rules of the worthwhile life as being inherent to man's nature. This reminds me of Hebrews 8:10:

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

And of Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness..."So God made man; in the image of God He made him; male and female He made them." The Orthodox Study Bible, in its notes, explains the inherent dignity of mankind: ...But he was made in the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity; and he was made male and female. Therefore, the dignity of each man and each woman is this image and likeness.

Orthodox Study Bible, pg 5 Note on 1:26-30

St. Theophan states that modern man erroneously has a conception of mankind that disregards the spiritual nature of his soul. That it is inherently good. He states that:

"[The] disorderliness that [we perceive]... within us is innate, but it is not natural."

And in the Orthodox Study Bible, pg 5 Note on 1:31-- the writer explains: Everything God made, including man, is very good, because God is good. Nothing He made is therefore evil in itself. So then, human nature is good in itself. But sin is a free choice of man's will, and it is contrary both to God's nature and human nature.

And St. Paul says, characterizing for all humankind the singular struggle to conform to the likeness of God: ¹⁵For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. Romans 7:15.

So in our nature, there is the law of God, rules for living, written in our hearts. What are these rules? We can find them in the Gospel. The Church, via the Bible, teaches us what a life in Christ should look like: It is a life of Humble Repentance, with such characteristics as described in the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.⁴Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.⁵Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the ^[^a^]earth.⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.⁸Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.⁹Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. ¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. ¹²Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

So when you get your planner, it may be useful to have an understanding of oneself as being in a state of recovery. And as a Christian, writing your mission, vision, and values statements can help align you with the mission of the Church, to aid you in the recovery of your true dignity; that is, to redeem man from the bondage of disorderliness. Then the usage of your planner becomes a tool to better help you incorporate the spiritual life of the Church into your own rhythms and patterns of being and to address your unique patterns of being that interfere with the salvific healing power of the Church.

Another misconception with planner usage, for those using it to make profound life changes, is that it is not a linear process. It is more like a circular spiraling forward that is unique to your circumstances, the etiological expression of the way disorderliness appears in your life, and how you plan to deal with temptations, frustrations and even successes in your walk toward health.

In my Church tradition, I participate in confession and in other sacraments, and I regularly speak with my priest about issues in my life. I currently meet with a therapist who is of my tradition. A Christian walks with a cloud of co-labourers; each of us working out our salvation in fear and trembling, but we are not doing this alone, but in a community where everyone is healing from something.

In the next blog I will show different types of Mission statements that can help keep you aligned with the mission of the Church, and identify your unique focus area to reduce planner abandonment.

Disclaimer: I am not a clinical professional. I am a fellow labourer myself, working out my salvation, within the spiraling progression of healing within the Church. Please consult with your priest and/or therapist for spiritual and clinical advice.