Steps to Creating a Whole-Life Rule of Life
Step 1: Take some time for self-reflection. Spend some time Considering the Six S’s of Self-Assessment. Who are you? What is your stage of life and faith? What is your season of faith? How did God wire you uniquely? What are some of your besetting sins and your strengths? Take as much time on these questions as you would like, but also do make sure to move onto the next steps before too long. You will never have this all figured out before you start crafting a Rule of Life, and that is okay. You can always come back later to dig deeper. And remember, this step is to help you craft a Rule of Life that makes sense to who you are uniquely in this season of life, not a Rule of Life that you or others think you should have.
Step 2: Spend some time with the questions for self-reflection regarding your roles, relationships, and riches Identify your main roles, the specific ways you want to nurture your relationships, and the specific ways you want to live out a life of generosity in this upcoming season.
Step 3: Now, spend some time considering the spiritual rhythms of Story, Presence, Journey, and Light & Life. and ask God what practices and life activities He might be inviting you to take on or leave behind in this next season. A balanced life in Christ will include all four rhythms. Are there any particular rhythm you tend to skip or avoid. If so, ask God how he might be inviting you to live into this rhythm in this upcoming season. What habits, postures, and practices (spiritual fertilizers) might be of help in this season? Write these down. Once you have done this, then refine your list and narrow it down. What is God inviting you to take on in this season? (It is better to take on 1 or 2 new practices for each rhythm and give them your all then to try to take on too many and to become discouraged. Also take time to identify how regularly you want to engage each practice/activity and each relationship and write these down.
Daily Practices/Activities______________________________________________
Weekly Practices/Activities____________________________________________
Monthly Practices/Activities____________________________________________
Quarterly Practices/Activities__________________________________________
Yearly Practices/Activities_____________________________________________
Longer Term Practice/Activities (i.e. a 5 year sabbatical)____________________________________________________
Step 4: Enter into another space of self-reflection. Consider your strengths and weaknesses more deeply, consider the areas of life you most need growth, and reflect on the areas you would like to see blossom or diminish. You may want to have a conversation with your pastor, a mentor, or another person you trust who will help you to see yourself more clearly.
Step 5: After you have considered your reality, relationships, roles, resources, and rhythms, “write down” your Rule of Life in any way that makes sense to you. (paragraph, chart, visual depiction). Write down the practices and rhythms you hope to take on in this season by the grace of God. This is where the Planning Pages may come in handy. Also, for all kinds of ideas of how to “write” a Rule of Life, check out https://ruleoflife.com. There are absolutely no right or wrong ways to do this, and you can write this as linearly or artistically as you would like.
Step 6: Return to your Rule of Life from time to time. Depending on what works best, considering revisiting your Rule each church season, school season, year, or other significant time period. Your Rule will continually be changing over time depending on your season and stage of faith, your life stage, your life circumstances, and the state of the world.
Note: I am indebted to Steve Macchia’s “Crafting a Rule of Life” for my process of creating a Rule of Life. Although not identical, my methodology certainly developed out of his process and for those familiar with his process, you’ll see how similar they are in outlook.
Click below for worksheets to help you build this whole-life Rule of Life.
Worksheets for Reflection, Brainstorming, and Planning
Steps for Building a Rule of LIfe
Rule of Life Questions
These are worksheet with questions to consider as you are going through the above steps.
Rhythms Brainstorming Pages
These are pages to brainstorm what rhythms you might want to take up generally speaking, and which rhythms you might want to take up specifically throughout the year or the seasons.
Rule of Life Planning Pages
If it is helpful, I have provided you with a worksheet for you to write out your Rule of LIfe. You may also choose to write it down in a completely different way, and that is okay.
Also, once you have written your Rule of Life, you may want to come back to it daily, weekly, monthly, or seasonally (depending on your preference) to write down more specifically how you hope to live out your Rule of Life.
Examen Pages
These are pages that contain questions to consider each day, week, month, or season, depending on what regularity you find helpful, to sit down and do some self-reflection. Thay may serve as prompts for times when you want to rewrite your Rule of Life.