Several years ago I read a book, (Steven R. Covey; 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families) that was about families and how we could organize and run them more efficiently. It talked about looking at your family/home as a business (but of course with more personal relationships). He suggested you should gather your family together and come up with a family motto and/or theme. Something that represents what goals you have together and what you expect in your home. I loved the idea and we have since incorporated both a family motto and theme in our home.
Our family motto is “No Empty Chairs.” This is something very personal and specific for our family. It may not work for your family, but something will. The key is to find something that fits your family and your beliefs about who you are together and what your ultimate goal as a family is. A goal is never reached that is never reached for.
Ours means that we expect that all of the chairs in our home will be filled. Meaning no one will be gone or left out. This also has some deeper religious significance for us as we are striving to be a “Forever Family.”
This sign hangs in our Family Room. The room right next to the kitchen. The two rooms we spend the most time in together. This way we see it in our comings and goings.
We took our family theme from out of our scriptures (Doctrine and Covenants 88:119). It is a verse of scripture that represents what we expect within the walls of our home. Is our home always representative of these things? NO! But it is a reminder to us of the things we are working towards as a family. I had it made out of vinyl lettering and it is directly above our food pantry in the kitchen. A place where the kids are drawn multiple times a day.
I know many of you may not be familiar with that particular scripture or may not be religious. That’s okay! Everyone has some theme that will work best for their own family. I just share ours to give you an idea of what you could do for your own!
It has been interesting to listen to the kids describe these to visitors that come into our home and ask about their meaning! They really do listen when we are sure they are hearing nothing!
What do you think about having a family theme or motto in your home?
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Letti says
I LOVE this idea. This will make a great FHE.
What a lovely idea. We have some sort of motto, althought it may not sound as one: "We are family". This sentence comes back now and then, when we talk about serious things, or not so serious things, and we all know what it means to us. This sentence comforts us, makes us all feel loves and special and makes us remember that we are here for eachother, now and always.
Love your theme! Absolutely love it! Thanks for sharing that scripture with the world. You are bold and will be blessed for it!
I had a very similar idea. I want to display in my dining room, "No empty chairs on earth or in heaven." I think its a great family theme, and I think that just might be our family theme also! Thanks for the great idea!
I may just have to get that scripture made and put it up in my house! love it!!!
Yeah…i thought you were LDS…Thank you for the reminder of HIS love for Families…
Great Family Theme too….
i move mine around so they dont familiarize themselves with it …plus i have a chalk board that i write messages on…i write important and fun family messages on there to remind everyone….(well it is just me and himself now..but it still works)
Great idea!! I absolutely love your blog. Thanks for taking the time each day to teach us something–whether it be crafty or spiritually!! Love the motto!!
great motto and theme! I need those constant visual reminders to help me keep things in perspective when life gets hectic. Thanks for the reminder.
great idea!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT! Great idea! Thanks!
I have always thought that the best way to remind each other what is important to us is to have it on display in our homes. You have it displayed beautifully! My husband and I are fairly early in our marriage with just a 1-year-old and a baby on the way, but I hope to establish our motto/song (Love is Spoken Here) early enough in our childrens' lives that they always know it. I never thought of having a theme, but it's a great idea and I love the theme you have chosen. I may use that one! Love your blog!
We just sung that song (NO Empty Chairs) in RS for music appreciation last week. I Love it! I also like the "Be Constant as the North Star" one. Thanks for the idea.
I wish my house had "no empty chairs" but 2 of the 4 of my family have gone to heaven (and 1 of the 2 left behind doesn't even use a chair)
But I like your motto.
That's a great idea!
We did this a few years ago. Our theme came from 2 Nephi 9:39…S.M.I.L.E. – Spiritually minded is life Eternal. Our moto is Live Simply, Give More, Expect Less! It doesn't always happen around here either. We don't have them hanging up, but I think that will need to happen soon. Thanks for the idea!
Great idea!! This just became our FHE for tonight!! Thanks for sharing the idea with the rest of us!! I can't wait to post on our blog after FHE about what we have chosen for our Family Motto!! I'm so excited!
Wow! I just came across your blog and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I've recently expanded my blog to include "crafting" and "cooking" and I have a feeling I'm going to be linking back to your blog quite frequently! :o) I think I've yelled to my husband a dozen times tonight, "Babe, check this out … look at this!". I've been looking around your blog for about an hour this evening and I think I want to try EVERYTHING! Thanks for sharing your talents with us!
Very inspirational! Love it!
Love the idea of having a "theme!" Great FHE night. As a family to sit down and come up with one that would fit our family. Love you ideas!
i just ran across your blog and absolutely love it!! Thanks for sooo much inspiration! Our family has a motto..it is quite long..I actually havenever posted about ours but I did make one for a friend, so check it out under DIY ideas when you have time!
Amy I love your blog and was recommended by Debbie Anderson. I look at it often and recommend it to everyone. I recently moved to Japan and recommended it to a friend who happens to be Linda an old roommate of yours. It is a small world even Utah to Japan. Great ideas!
What a lovely post. Our family motto is "A box a day…" My husband used to say that to me while pregnant with our first. We had just bought our first home and I was at the end of my pregnancy. His thought was that if I just packed "a box a day", we'd eventually get to where we want. The day we moved, he reminded me again in an unpacking frenzy. A few days later, our oldest arrived six weeks early and stuck in NICU for a few weeks. We kept saying it to each other as it applied to our lives then. And today, three kids and two houses later, we still say it! And I have it painted on the wall of my office as a reminder that we'll eventually get to where we want.
I really like the saying "Love much, laugh often, live long."It's not an official family motto, but it is pretty much the creed we live by. Wendy xxx
I can't remember if I have posted a comment on your blog before, but I love all your ideas. Our ward is actually doing a Enrichment (whoops) R.S meeting about the importance of eating together, what a great idea to share with them. That scripture is one of my favorites. I never thought of putting it on the wall before now. I am going to have to look into that! Thanks again for all your ideas…you are awesome!
Oh Amy I just love that saying!!! It's been a favorite of mine for years!
I was linked to your blog today and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to see such a wealth of ideas and love. Thank you.
I so love this! And can not wait to apply it to my family!
Thanks for sharing so much!
Beautiful..
That's our family motto too. Our neighbor girl when we lived in NJ was very confused by it.
Amy you are so good! I love you idea! I am not a religious gal, I am more spirtual, but your scripture is still something we should all strive for being religious or not! You are very gifted on all your ideas. I loved your laundry idea not to long ago! Thanks for sharing!
I heard No Empty Chairs and conference today and thought of you. What a great motto. Might have to steal it!
I smiled when I heard this at conference. Good job!- you're ahead of the game! :)
I came to your blog from Ucreate. It is full of great things, good job! I have to admit I cried when I read this post, or at least after it clicked. "No Empty Chairs". I love it!
I just came across your blog and LOVE it!! I was especially drawn to this post since "No empty Chairs" is our family motto. I didn't know how significant it would actually be when we made it our family motto. Our little boy Wyatt passed away 22 months ago. I was so glad I had listened to a talk by the Covey's on making a family motto. It now how so much meaning to us. We are striving so hard so that we can fill our chairs next to Wyatt in heaven.
Wow – I just came across your blog from a Studio 5 link and I am beyond impressed. While we have never established a family motto, your family motto brought me to tears. My grandma, who just recently passed away, used to say "Let there be no empty chairs in our heavenly home" all the time and I had even given her a framed quote I found of that at Seagull Book many years ago. I acquired it when she passed away, and wanted to hang it in my home, but it's not very pretty and not really my style. And I've been looking for something meaningful to hang on the wall in my kitchen in our new house, and this is it. I don't know why I didn't think to have that done in vinyl lettering before – it will look perfect and be a constant reminder not only of her, but of a wonderful family motto I think I will now establish for our own family. Thank you, so much, for the beautiful idea.
I'm loving your blog. Thanks for sharing. Just came across this. We used this theme for my parents 50th wedding anniversary and gave everyone wooden pieces with this saying on it. Senator Orrin Hatch has a song called, "No Empty Chairs" on his Jesus Love is Like a River (I think) CD. If you haven't heard it already, the song is great and encompasses what we are all trying to do. Thanks again for sharing.
Your blog is incredible. I think I am addicted…LOL. Thank you for sharing your ideas, thoughts and talents with the rest of us.
I now have so many ideas, projects and recipes I want to get started on!!
My family's motto growing up was "our home is a haven" it was always comforting to know that whatever was going on in the 'outside world' we could come home to be loved and protected. My mom would always invoke the phrase when we were meanly teasing each other. We are still working on a phrase for my family (husband and daughter) and I really like your idea.
So love this idea. I have been praying for a motto, or verse, or something to hang on to since my family has been ripped apart by infidelity. I will continue to pray and this will be my next project when God shows me what that might be. Wonderful.
This was our family’s motto when I was growing up, and it is now featured prominently in MY living room in vinyl on the window of an antique door that was in my grandmothers home. My kids will grow up with it as well!