Can you believe that I have been working on this project for about 44 years? I learned about the importance of defining my values, my highest priorities in life, from a tape cassette seminar by Charles Hobbs when I was attending a vegan health retreat when I was about 26 around 1980. At that time, goal setting and time management was more of the focus, but Charles Hobbs was ahead of his time. Now it seems that many wise people who I respect are talking about values.

I’m not sure how many years I have been working on defining my values for community, but it seems like a long time. I keep thinking I’m done.

I must admit, I’m getting a bit weary. One of my traits is that I am a great starter, but a poor finisher. I don’t like to complete things. But I must finish this project! Without stating my values as clearly as possible, I fear that I will continue to attract people with whom I end up having conflicts that are not resolved well. I have spent countless hours having interactions with people who I was sure would be good community partners, and then I find out we have a huge value difference that I could not live with. If I could have described my values more clearly, we could have avoided the wasted time.

Maybe the conversations weren’t a total waste of time because I did learn that I needed to describe some values more clearly. I believe that God can make something good out of everything. Yet I certainly don’t want to do things that God has to turn summersaults to make something good out of!

I do think that I will prioritize the values and say that I will consider having conversations with people who align with most of my values, and who want to challenge me on certain ones. I am open to changing and growing. Yet I don’t want to spend a lot of time changing. I really want to see if this set of values and the goals that come with them will align with people naturally. I am looking for values that if everyone in the world practiced them, then this world would be a thriving place. If I have left out such a value, I would like to know. If one of the values seems to be off, I am willing to listen to someone who seems very serious about joining the community and shares most of the values.

I probably should add the value of life-long learning and critical thinking. I believe that one of the reasons that communities get stuck and not improving is because they do not consciously adopt this value. I just did it! That is the benefit of writing.

I am praying that I will finish the rough drafts of the values by tomorrow, and the final drafts, a list of the values with links to longer explanations, goals of the community based on the values, and an outreach letter that I can send to potential members by Sunday, Dec. 8. I have a long list of people and groups who I want to share my values with.

I ask you to hold me in prayer as I go through this process which is so essential. I am praying for guidance as well.