Lent is nearly upon us, and I’m not ready–yet.  It sneaks up on me every single year, but this year, I am doing some prep work so that I can enter into the season deliberately.  I want to have a game plan, and I know that I’ll desperately need one this year.  We’re listing the house March 3.  Without a plan, I know I’ll let myself and our family get into a rut of being in survival mode, focusing on house stuff instead of the whole Jesus dying for our sins stuff.

Philip and I started our own Happiness Project last year, but we took a hiatus from it because of my post-partum depression, the Christmas season, and life in general.  I’ve been wanting to revisit our Happiness Project, but I want to give it more focus.  When I was thinking about revisiting our Happiness Project, I came across Jen Fulwiler’s post, “Admitting that I can’t do it all…or even half of it.”  

Jen wrote about the overwhelming burden we place on ourselves when we create impossible do-it-all to-do lists.  In the post, she mentions Holly Pierlot’s A Mother’s Rule of Life.  Have you read the book?  Do yourself and your family a favor, and read it!  

The book centers around one Catholic mama’s desire to bring order and peace to her home.  To do so, Holly created a mother’s rule of life modeled after the daily schedule of the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s order).  Holly wisely realized that the daily schedule for the Missionaries of Charity allows them to have peace, order, and ample time to accomplish only that which needs to be done for the day.   

Daily Schedule for the Missionaries of Charity 

4:30-5:00 Rise and get cleaned up 

5:00-6:30 Prayers and Mass 

6:30-8:00 Breakfast and cleanup 

8:00-12:30 Work for the poor 

12:30-2:30 Lunch and rest 

2:30-3:00 Spiritual reading and meditation 

3:00-3:15 Tea break 

3:15-4:30 Adoration 

4:30-7:30 Work for the poor 

7:30-9:00 Dinner and clean up 

9:00-9:45 Night prayers 

9:45 Bedtime  

The focus of the day is a healthy balance of prayer, work, and rest.  The Missionaries of Charity keep this simple schedule without overburdening themselves with all of the extra stuff.  By keeping their priorities in check, they are able to work with God to multiply their time doing what needs to be done and cutting the rest.  The schedule clearly shows that the women trust that God will help them to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished.    

I’m nearly finished with A Mother’s Rule of Life, and I am chomping at the bit to create my own Boucher Family Rule of Life.  I’ve decided that creating our Family Rule and implementing it will be my big Lenten mission.  Our family will need order and peace as we list the house and prepare to move.  I want to have those habits in place before the chaos enters the scene, and I want to start living with order and peace now.

Philip and I will work together (with a whole lotta prayer!) to discuss our family mission and how best to accomplish that mission.  I plan to finish the book this weekend and start drawing up our family rule of life.  To create our family rule, I am going to examine the “5 Ps” from A Mother’s Rule of Life:

1. Prayer
2. Person
3. Partner
4. Parent
5. Provider

I’m ready to abandon what the world says is best for our family and start deliberately living out what God is asking of our domestic church.  Throughout Lent, I’ll be posting snippets and reflections on the various components of our Boucher Family Rule of Life.  I look forward to hearing how you structure your days with your family and how you are bringing peace and order to your home.  Now, I’m just praying for the graces to actually do what I think God is asking of our domestic church.  It’s going to take a very healthy dose of humility to really hear what God is asking of me as the spiritual heart of our home.  

St. Joseph, our 2014 patron saint for our family, pray for us!