MHoggard_Lesson13 (Final)_Context of A Spiritual Community

[Margaret Hoggard]

Question 4. Close your forum by sharing the most recent version of your Rule of Life. Listen for how each person has uniquely crafted their Rule of Life in ways that reflect God’s hard-wiring of their lives. Affirm one another with prayers of thankfulness for one another.

After reviewing the samples provided in our text in the chapter “Four Individuals Crafting Their Personal Rule of Life,” I found it was much easier for me to put a complete draft of my outline together. I also visited the web site for Crafting a Rule of Life, where I listened to the interview with author Stephen A. Macchia and looked at more samples that people had developed. (These resources can be found at: https://ruleoflife.com/myrule/ ) Some personal rules were very creative, using graphics or poetry as well as charts and/or prose to lay out the individual’s personal rule. The process of working through Dr. Macchia’s interactive within the framework of Dr. Nobles lectures and assignments has made this a valuable learning experience with direct application in my every day life and future planning. It has been a pleasure to join with all of you in the Forums for this course, and may God bless you as you continue on your spiritual journeys.

I have posted the draft of my Personal Rule of Life below and would welcome any comments, suggestions, or other feedback.

PERSONAL RULE OF LIFE (Draft)

Vision: to inspire present and future hope in others, so they might have faith that the love of God is at work throughout their lives.

Mission: to use my spiritual gifts as a researcher, writer, teacher, and servant-leader to understand and share the essence of the power of the Holy Spirit as I grow in my relationship with God through study, prayer, worship, and creative activities while learning to serve my family, friends, and faith communities through the exercise of the fruit of the Spirit.

Spiritually (Time):
– Daily: Begin each day with prayer, bible study, and devotions
– Weekly: Participate in worship service with my faith community; participate in intercessory prayer groups
– Monthly: Complete a step of my dissertation on spiritual development; participate in prayer shawl ministry
– Quarterly/Seasonally: Submit a section of my dissertation for grading and review do necessary revisions
– Annually: Review progress on spiritual goals and plan for the coming year; identify ways to develop spiritual learning and apply it in mission category

Relationally (Trust):
– Daily: Follow the guidelines to love, listen, learn, and lead (or follow) to build stronger and more spiritual relationships with my family, friends, and faith community
– Weekly: Maintain contact with family to check on their well-being; go on a “date” with husband
– Monthly: Send out birthday and other greeting cards; go to Wednesday Night Live at The Peoples Church
– Quarterly/Seasonally: Visit family in Canada; host a fellowship gathering
– Annually: Participate in a retreat; go on a holiday with husband

Physically (Temple):
– Daily: Maintain log book plan for monitoring nutrition, exercise, and wellness goals
– Weekly: Participate in relaxation exercises; prepare menu and shop for healthy foods; maintain a comfortable and clean household
– Monthly: Participate in wellness support group
– Quarterly/Seasonally: Take a healthy living and/or cooking class; get haircut and organize clothing and home for the coming season; order meds and wellness supplies
– Annually: See doctor for physical and complete annual lab tests and routine procedures

Financially (Treasure):
– Daily: Monitor spending and organize receipts
– Weekly: Tithe at church
– Monthly: Submit support for ministerial association; send monthly gifts to Mom and provide gifts other family members as needed
– Quarterly/Seasonally: Review finances and plan for major expenses and givings
– Annually: Complete income taxes; determine annual pledges

Missionally (Talent):
– Daily: Complete research and writing goals for dissertation
– Weekly: Maintain Prayerful Crafters FaceBook group for United New Testament Church International Ministerial Association
– Monthly: Participate in mission/Christian Education projects at The Peoples Church and United New Testament Church Ministerial Association; prepare a writing for publication or facilitate a spiritual study
– Quarterly/Seasonally: Organize mission and outreach projects for Fruit of Agape Community Transformations
– Annually: Determine fund distributions for Fruit of Agape Community Transformations; review and maintain roles, responsibilities, and requirements for the coming year

Blessings,
Margaret Hoggard

• This topic was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by Margaret Hoggard.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for submitting your Rule of Life. I have taken notes for my own, but invisioned a different order of the outline. I just threw the outline out! With your kind permission, I will use yours!
Br. Monty,OSB

[Margaret Hoggard]

Thank you for your comments. I actually used the point form format for my rule of life draft because I couldn’t figure out how to post a chart, but I think it out to be something useful for printing out as is and displaying on my bulletin board as a daily visual reminder. Having a word document of this form will also mean I can update it easily — old-fashioned, perhaps, but functional. (I suppose I could print it on a fancy paper or add some graphic touches just to add some creativity to the process.)

If you would like to email me at fruitofagape@gmail.com, I can attach a template of the basic outline I used in Word form and send it to you.

There are also templates of the rule of life planning charts that I printed out and found helpful in pulling the pieces together: Personal Rule of Life Statements at https://ruleoflifedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/carol-personal-rule-of-life-statements.pdf and Weaving Together Your Personal Rule of Life at https://ruleoflifedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/2-weaving-together-your-personal-rule-of-life.pdf for recording objectives in the five areas of Time, Trust, Temple, Treasure, and Talent. I printed these off and found they were easier to use than the forms provided in the text for handwriting notes.

I personally don’t think it matters how the personal rule of life is put together, as long as it serves the purposes of the person creating it. I’m a writer and global thinker so (as you may have noticed) begin with a lot of words. But I also admire the way that some of the samples show that people have created their rule of life primarily in pictorial form.

I found that doing the work to put together my draft was a wonderfully satisfying way to end the course because it gave me a sense of reassurance about what I am already doing as well as clarity about what I need to do to continue my spiritual growth and Christian service. I pray that will be gratified as you develop your rule of life.

Blessings
Maggie

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