A Regula -- or Rule of Life -- is an ancient Christian spiritual discipline that gives persons a pattern, structure, and direction for growing in holiness. A Rule establishes a rhythm for life which is helpful for being formed by the Spirit, a rhythm that reflects a love for God and respect for how he has made us. The spiritual disciplines which we build into our rhythm of life help us to shed the "old self" and provide the fallow, fertile ground in which our "new self” in Christ is formed and grown in grace. These disciplines are means of grace by which God can nourish us. Ultimately a Rule should help us to love God more, so if it becomes a legalistic way of earning points with God or impressing others, it should be scrapped. If the traditional, ancient term "rule" concerns you because it sounds legalistic, think of "rule" as a "rhythm of life" or as a "Curriculum in Christlikeness" (Dallas Willard), or as a "Game Plan for Morphing" (John Ortberg).
I wrote this Rule while a student at Duke Divinity School as part of my coursework in Christian Spirituality. It's therefore older than most personal Rules of Life that we might encounter, but it's been extremely formative for me. I also wouldn't ever consider this a Rule that every Christian should follow; in fact, some might find it spiritually deadly. But it is mine, and will offer readers an idea why I refer to myself as "The Little Friar".
My rule of life is:
- To win my world to a sense of holy wonder,
- To spoil my world with small decencies of grace,
- To color my world brightly with endless splashes of divine beauty,
- To ruin my world's standards by always living out my baptism,
- To surprise my world with unexpected kindnesses,
- To fill my world with the incense of undeserved love,
- To teach my world a more excellent way,
- To startle my world with Good News,
- To listen deeply in a shallow world,
- To pray without ceasing and...
- To never let life end with "uh-oh", for that would mean being unprepared.