Pay Attention to the Choices and Habits of Your Life

I keep waiting for time to slow down. With uncharacteristic optimism, I tell myself, “After the garden is done producing, after this speaking engagement is behind me, after this next thing, I’ll stop and take a look around, take a breath, take a break.

What I’m forgetting, of course, is that while I’m “waiting,” my life is still going on. Grandchildren are getting taller, seasons and holidays are flying past me, and every day I’m just a little bit closer to eternity. With the accelerator on the floorboards, I’m proving once again that the way I live my days will be, after all, the way I live my life.¹

In A Rule for the Rest of Us, Jen Pollock Michel points to the riptide that has caught so many of us in this anxious world. While we’re “waiting” for the right time to swim into calmer waters, we’re actually being carried along farther from the shore. As we procrastinate and fail to make better choices, we are being formed.

While we’re “waiting” for the right time to swim into calmer waters, we’re actually being carried along farther from the shore. As we procrastinate and fail to make better choices, we are being formed.

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Sensing the need for faithful structure in her own life, Michel began to study the monastic orders and their ancient practices for faithful living called their “rule of life.” Beginning with St. Benedict’s rule and acknowledging that her actual daily life was far from monastic or cloistered, she developed a rule of life that incorporated faithful habits indispensible to her own spiritual walk. Her work became the foundation for online classes in which she helped learners to develop their own rule of life, and she has distilled that helpful content in this latest book.

Developng a rule of life, what sounds alarmingly like another “thing to do” is actually permission to employ well-placed noes, to winnow out the unnecessary activities stealing our time and stamina. The invitation that spoke most directly to me was to pay attention, to practice prayerful discernment in the present moment as a safeguard against future chaos.

Michel has defined a rule of life as “the practice of regular habits that sustain creative, faithful response to God’s loving voice.” Derived from the Latin, regula, a rule is a straight piece of wood offering support. Intention precedes action or commitment when thoughtful attention has been given to one’s stated purpose.

A rule of life offers guardrails and a filtering grid for setting priorities. How will this decision impact my family? My home church? My health?

Since reading the book, I have been paying attention to the choices and habits already present in the rule of life currently in effect here on the ground. It’s true—the way I spend the next ten minutes will shape the hour that follows, and that hour will shape the day.
The act becomes practice.
The practice becomes habit.
The habit becomes a life.

I appreciated Michel’s observation that “we all have a rule because the choices and habits of our lives shape who we are and have yet to become. In Benedict’s rule, a rule of life was undertaken because Christ was Lord and every day counted for eternity.” That’s a strong argument for diving in to the five-step process the book describes: (1)keep regular company with God; (2)name your life’s given realities; (3)examine your desires; (4)articulate faithful habits; (5)regularly review and revise the working document that will become your rule.

• Can you identify the rule of life that’s currently directing the flow of your minutes, hours, and days?
• What habits do you long to incorporate into your daily rhythm, but have dismissed as impractical or even impossible?
• If you could STOP doing one thing that’s taking your time right now, what would it be?

You already have a rule of life and so do I. Let’s make sure our rule of life is taking us where we want to go!

I appreciated @Jenpmichel ‘s observation that “we all have a rule because the choices and habits of our lives shape who we are and have yet to become.” Let’s make sure our rule of life is taking us where we want to go! @WaterBrookPress

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Holding You in the Light,

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This seven-day devotional plan affirms that perseverance is so much more than simply hanging on. Those who follow Jesus Christ are familiar with the dogged patience of waiting, because we have read the words of Scripture about eternal rewards for those who endure. So we persevere—sometimes just because God has commanded us to. When the newness wears off, when we don’t feel like it, when everything just feels too hard, we press on, and we press in to Christ. He is the prize.

As you know, I’m committed to the truth that women can become confident followers of God and students of his Word, and it’s my goal to help you along that path. At Living Our Days, I provide biblical content and resources to encourage biblical literacy and faithful living, and now I’m sharing devotional content on the YouVersion app. Visit my profile page to get free access to all the reading plans!

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Many thanks to WaterBrook and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

1. The Annie Dillard quote from The Writing Life that inspired “Living Our Days.” ↩︎