A Rule of Life
The end of December and beginning of January, feel like a strange time every year. My social media spaces are full of people sharing their year-in-review pictures and captions, declaring their word for the upcoming year, and deciding on the changes they hope to make in the new year.
I’m all for setting goals. I think it is helpful to consider what is happening in your life and where you might be headed. Forward momentum is a good thing. But! I also think there is a lot of pressure around January 1. Twelve months, though they do fly by, is a long time. And a lot can change in your life over the course of a year.
Sometimes the changes are expected - knowing you are moving, or planning for a baby. Other times they are sudden - the loss of a loved one, or a health issue.
Rich Villodas writes, “Resolutions are good, but a Rule of Life is better. Resolutions are often about goals that require lots of will power. A Rule is about submitting to the Spirit empowered rhythms, practices, and relationships that reorder our hearts and form our wills.”
A Rule of Life might sound complicated or even off-putting depending on how you feel about the word rule, but essentially it is a process of determining what matters most in your life and in your spiritual transformation. It isn’t a list or rules, but rather a guide for what is essential to you as you live this one life you have.
St. Benedict originally created the Rule of Life to help monks order their day around what mattered most.
Rich Villodas offers four helpful questions to consider when developing a Rule of Life -
What are the spiritual disciplines you need to anchor you in a life with God?
What are the practices of self-care that you need to care for your body and nurture your soul?
What core relationships do you need in this season of life to support you on your journey?
What are the gifts, passions, and burdens within that God wants you to express for the blessing of others?
What would it look like for you to consider these four questions this year? What would it look like to revisit these questions once a month and invite the Holy Spirit to help you see what is working or not working in your formation journey?
In Sacred Rhythms, Ruth Haley Barton uses the term rhythm when talking about a Rule of Life. She writes, “An effective rhythm of spiritual practices will be very personal. No two individuals will have exactly the same rhythm, because no two people are alike. Your rhythm of spiritual practices will take into account your personality, your spiritual type, your season of life, the sin patterns you are contending with, the places where you know God is trying to stretch you. For instance, a relatively unstructured, spontaneous personality will need to be careful not to craft a rhythm of life that feels too structured and confining. A person who is more structured and enjoys closure will probably like having things mapped out in more detail.”
The truth is that we all have a Rule of Life. The question is, is it transforming us to be more like Jesus?
~ Melissa