Week One: Day 1 – Rule of Life

In this program, we are trying to offer people an opportunity to draft a Rule of Life for themselves.  So first of all we should ask the question, “What is a Rule of Life?”  At first hearing the word rule may sound inappropriate or difficult to some.  We have a negative reaction often times to rules and we don’t want to live by rules.  But when monastics talk about a Rule of Life they’re not talking about a list of rules that we follow.  The word “rule” comes from the Latin word regulari, which has the word that gives us words like regularize or regulations.  And a rule is a way of regularizing our life, of bringing order and an intentional approach to the way that we are living.  So rather than living randomly and just allowing ourselves to respond to the things that happen to us in life, a Rule of Life gives us a chance to step back and to think about what it is that we value and how we intend to live.  What are the values we want to express in our daily living?

– Br. David Vryhof

This Week’s Podcast Episode

This Week’s Workbook Exercise (Page 3)

Before we begin planting our gardens, we may want to take a stroll around and explore other gardens to see what works well and what doesn’t work well. Look at some of the examples of different Rules of Life. Use the blank ‘seed packets’ to jot down notes as you explore other Rules of Life. What inspires you? What ideas stand out that you could incorporate into your own Rule of Life? These are ‘seeds’ that we can consider planting in our own Garden Plots.