Rule of Life: Always Start With Prayer

For this new Rule of Life blog series, I will be sharing about some of my formation in the monastic life and invite you to join me in reflecting on what it looks like to live by a very intentional rule of life.

When I first submitted my application for postulancy in the Order of the Common Life (orderofthecommonlife.org), I wanted to bathe my new experience in prayer. Around that time the movie War Room was in theaters and I was excited to set aside a prayer closet in my house and start praying strategically about this new monastic journey.

I developed a template of sorts on how I wanted to approach praying about each of the Rhythm of Life and Commitments described in the Invitations & Commitments book. I started by taking some time in reflection with three key questions. What is God Already Doing? What is God Already Saying? Where is God Going?

I wrote out my thoughts on these questions longhand. A bit of an antiquated method, I know, but God spoke to me very clearly about how I needed to slow down my thoughts and my spirit and be still so that I could hear His voice more clearly than I can when I'm typing away on a computer. I then took my reflections and held them close to my heart and opened myself to Spirit so I could understand how I wanted to pray.

Next I wrote out a prayer, most of them somewhat general in content so they would be meaningful throughout my monastic journey as I read them over and over again. I wanted to capture the themes of what I wanted God to do in each of these monastic commitment areas. Sometimes my prayers contained confessions, sometimes thanksgiving, sometimes petitions. They all came from the heart and they all expressed to the Lord exactly where I was in the present moment and where I wanted to go.

Perhaps this short explanation of the process is all you need to get started. However, if you would like a bit more guidance, I do have the reflection and prayer process that I went through written out in workbook format that I can share with you. Just visit the link below and order a copy of one of the volumes of my Rule of Life Commitment e-book series that you'd like to start with. Not sure? Check out the description of each volume on the website below and see which one God puts His finger on as the place to start. Each volume includes one of the prayers that I wrote during my Postulancy journey.

https://www.nourishyourbeing.org/rule-of-life