![The 2nd “P” in Our Rule of Life: Person]()
by Catherine | Mar 1, 2014 | Everything Else, Faith
If you have no idea what I’m writing about, I decided to create our own Boucher Family Rule of Life as part of my lenten mission. It’s modeled after Holly Pierlot’s A Mother’s Rule of Life. In previous posts on this topic, I have written about:
(Note: When I said I’d tackle 1 P each day for the next 5 days, I should have said, “I’ll tackle 1 P at my earliest convenience because we’re putting our house on the market.”)
Today, I’m looking at the 2nd “P” in a Rule of Life: Person.
The 2nd “P,” Person, is an essential part of our Rule of Life. Examining the Person isn’t about naval gazing; it’s a humbling moment to examine ourselves (good and bad) in order to make the necessary changes to become what God intends us to be. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve’s reason and intellect were in complete communion with God’s will for them. This gave them complete independence because they were free of attachments to sin. Have you ever heard the phrase, “sin makes you stupid”? When I live in patterns of sin, I find myself in bondage to them. When sins become habitual, it’s easier to reason them away or blindly give in to temptation, and it becomes harder and harder to break free. Examining my weaknesses and tendencies to sin with the intention to change is so liberating!
Holly Pierlot quoted her university professor, Fr. Tom Daley, as saying that “freedom is taking responsibility for who you are to become.” If I want to live out our family’s mission statement to be a domestic church where saints are made, I need to take responsibility for taking the necessary steps to become who God wants me to be. In order to do that, I need to take a holistic approach to ensure that every area of my personhood is in balance.
So, I examined a few areas:
Psychological and Emotional Health
In her section on Person, Holly Pierlot suggests asking yourself a few questions to determine why you react the way you do.
- Why do I feel this way?
- Why is this bothering me?
- Where have I encountered this before in my life?
- What does this make me think of?
These simple questions helped me to realize that I respond to the world around me because of the accumulation of past experiences. Taking a moment to think about these questions, especially when I find my anger surfacing, is extremely helpful. Usually, my anger is tied to a previous hurt unrelated to the moment at hand. This exercise taught me that I need to work on processing my emotions more than simply relegating them to the back of my mind because it’s easier to ignore them.
In addition to thinking about these questions, I am going to start journaling regularly. I am going to start a weekly thorough examination of conscience. This will help me to uncover habits of sin and hopefully help me to break those cycles. Recognizing these chinks in my spiritual armor and asking God to strengthen me where I am weak is a good place to start.
I’d love to find a spiritual director after we move to help me further identify and work on overcoming habits of sin.
Rest
This is me without enough sleep:
I earned the nickname “Kindergarten Catherine” when I attended all day kindergarten while still desperately needing a nap. It was probably the longest year of my mother’s life! I’m 29, and my family still teases me about this! I need my sleep. For this mama, that means 7-8 hours of sleep to be fully functioning. Philip and I have a new rule that we must be in bed by 9:30, and lights go out at 10. This ensures that I’m rested enough to rise before the children at 5:30 for prayer and exercise.
Aside from getting adequate rest at night, Holly Pierlot wrote about having a “Mother’s Sabbath.” For her, a Mother’s Sabbath is her regular time away for “rest, solitude, and restoration with God.” She takes one Saturday away every other week to go to Adoration, confession, run errands, read, etc. She reasons that even Jesus took time away to pray and that we all need to get away in order to recharge. In our family, a few hours on a Saturday once a month would be divine! Since Philip is away from home all week, he doesn’t have the same desire I do to get out of the house, and he wants to be a homebody most weekends. Having this regular opportunity to get out by myself would do me some good. I see myself going to confession, spending time in Adoration, running a few errands, reading at a coffee shop, and working on my blog. I haven’t had a Mother’s Sabbath yet, but I doubt I’ll have trouble making it up as I go!
In addition to my Mother’s Sabbath, I need time to rest with my gal pals without our kiddos. Philip and I think that having some girl time (aside from my Bible study and parish mothers group) two times a month is a healthy amount. (Likewise, he is supposed to schedule regular outings for himself with his buddies.)
Nutrition
I’m still using the Paprika app to organize my recipes and plan our weekly menu. Having a plan in place reduces the amount that we’re eating out and helps us to eat more nutritiously. I build in healthy snacks throughout the week. I need to work on prepping the snacks ahead of time (cut up fruits and vegetables) so that I can access them more easily than the less healthy options. Simply having a list of nutritious snack ideas helps, too.
Exercise
I haven’t been able to get my regular exercise in because we’ve had a constantly shifting schedule during the day with Baby Harry. Now that he’s 6 months and has a relatively regular schedule with sleeping and eating, I’m finally ready to say that I have time to exercise at a regular time. I’ve decided it makes the most sense for me to exercise after my morning prayers before I make breakfast for the kids. If they wake up during this time, they can have quiet reading time until I’m done with my 30 Day Shred DVD. They love acting like my personal trainers with cheerleading or even joining in next to me, so maybe this will turn into a family activity!
Medication
I am so grateful to my Catholic OBGYN and nurse practitioner for helping to treat my hormone irregularities. Through using the Creighton Model and doing a simple blood draw, we were able to identify a progesterone deficiency. Supplementing my progesterone levels helped me to maintain a healthy pregnancy when I was pregnant with Harry. Assuming my progesterone levels remain low in the future, I will be able to get supplements earlier to greatly limit my risk of miscarriage. During the post-partum phase, my nurse practitioner was able to identify post-partum depression and successfully treat me with progesterone therapy. As my body gets back into the swing of things with a cycle, I am going to be on the lookout for PMS as progesterone therapy can limit those symptoms as well. I think Philip would appreciate that, too!
Hygiene and Grooming
With exercising in the morning, I’m still trying to figure out the best time to shower. When do you exercise and shower? I don’t think I’ll ever be a shower in the evening kinda gal. I never feel clean that way. I think I need to move my wake-up call to 5:00 in order to get it all done without interruption. We’ll see how my first week goes. Right now, I’m thinking things will look like this:
- 5:30 Wake up and get dressed to exercise
- 5:40-6:00 Eat breakfast and morning prayer (Daily Readings, Gospel reflection, Morning Offering)
- 6:00 30 Day Shred DVD
- 6:30 Shower (kids have quiet reading time if they’re awake)
- 7:00 Breakfast with kids
Blogging
30 minutes during the kids’ nap time
A few questions for you on the 2nd “P” of Person:
- How do you work on overcoming areas or habits of sin? Do you journal?
- What about rest? What kind of sleep are you getting lately? Do you have something resembling a Mother’s Sabbath? What would your time away look like?
- How do you plan your weekly menu for your crew? Do you have any tips or recipes you’d like to share?
- All of us are busy, but how do you find time to exercise? Do you have a program you love? Do you have any advice for a mama with little ones?
- Is there something you’re eating or a nutrition supplement that’s helping you to feel better? Have you identified any areas of concern in your health?
- When do you fit in your grooming needs? I’d love any tips or advice in this area since it’s tough to get ready AND exercise with the little ones!
- Blogger friends, how do you organize and fit in time to blog? Do you do something to help you organize your thoughts? I feel like my method is to pre-write it all in my head the day before and “brain dump” whenever I get a free chunk of time!
* * *
This is my 6th of 7 posts in Jen Fulwiler’s “7 Days, 7 Posts” challenge. Come on over, join in the fun link-up, and read some great blogs!
![The 2nd "P" in Our Rule of Life: Person]()
by Catherine | Mar 1, 2014 | Everything Else, Faith
If you have no idea what I’m writing about, I decided to create our own Boucher Family Rule of Life as part of my lenten mission. It’s modeled after Holly Pierlot’s A Mother’s Rule of Life. In previous posts on this topic, I have written about:
(Note: When I said I’d tackle 1 P each day for the next 5 days, I should have said, “I’ll tackle 1 P at my earliest convenience because we’re putting our house on the market.”)
Today, I’m looking at the 2nd “P” in a Rule of Life: Person.
The 2nd “P,” Person, is an essential part of our Rule of Life. Examining the Person isn’t about naval gazing; it’s a humbling moment to examine ourselves (good and bad) in order to make the necessary changes to become what God intends us to be. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve’s reason and intellect were in complete communion with God’s will for them. This gave them complete independence because they were free of attachments to sin. Have you ever heard the phrase, “sin makes you stupid”? When I live in patterns of sin, I find myself in bondage to them. When sins become habitual, it’s easier to reason them away or blindly give in to temptation, and it becomes harder and harder to break free. Examining my weaknesses and tendencies to sin with the intention to change is so liberating!
Holly Pierlot quoted her university professor, Fr. Tom Daley, as saying that “freedom is taking responsibility for who you are to become.” If I want to live out our family’s mission statement to be a domestic church where saints are made, I need to take responsibility for taking the necessary steps to become who God wants me to be. In order to do that, I need to take a holistic approach to ensure that every area of my personhood is in balance.
So, I examined a few areas:
Psychological and Emotional Health
In her section on Person, Holly Pierlot suggests asking yourself a few questions to determine why you react the way you do.
- Why do I feel this way?
- Why is this bothering me?
- Where have I encountered this before in my life?
- What does this make me think of?
These simple questions helped me to realize that I respond to the world around me because of the accumulation of past experiences. Taking a moment to think about these questions, especially when I find my anger surfacing, is extremely helpful. Usually, my anger is tied to a previous hurt unrelated to the moment at hand. This exercise taught me that I need to work on processing my emotions more than simply relegating them to the back of my mind because it’s easier to ignore them.
In addition to thinking about these questions, I am going to start journaling regularly. I am going to start a weekly thorough examination of conscience. This will help me to uncover habits of sin and hopefully help me to break those cycles. Recognizing these chinks in my spiritual armor and asking God to strengthen me where I am weak is a good place to start.
I’d love to find a spiritual director after we move to help me further identify and work on overcoming habits of sin.
Rest
This is me without enough sleep:
I earned the nickname “Kindergarten Catherine” when I attended all day kindergarten while still desperately needing a nap. It was probably the longest year of my mother’s life! I’m 29, and my family still teases me about this! I need my sleep. For this mama, that means 7-8 hours of sleep to be fully functioning. Philip and I have a new rule that we must be in bed by 9:30, and lights go out at 10. This ensures that I’m rested enough to rise before the children at 5:30 for prayer and exercise.
Aside from getting adequate rest at night, Holly Pierlot wrote about having a “Mother’s Sabbath.” For her, a Mother’s Sabbath is her regular time away for “rest, solitude, and restoration with God.” She takes one Saturday away every other week to go to Adoration, confession, run errands, read, etc. She reasons that even Jesus took time away to pray and that we all need to get away in order to recharge. In our family, a few hours on a Saturday once a month would be divine! Since Philip is away from home all week, he doesn’t have the same desire I do to get out of the house, and he wants to be a homebody most weekends. Having this regular opportunity to get out by myself would do me some good. I see myself going to confession, spending time in Adoration, running a few errands, reading at a coffee shop, and working on my blog. I haven’t had a Mother’s Sabbath yet, but I doubt I’ll have trouble making it up as I go!
In addition to my Mother’s Sabbath, I need time to rest with my gal pals without our kiddos. Philip and I think that having some girl time (aside from my Bible study and parish mothers group) two times a month is a healthy amount. (Likewise, he is supposed to schedule regular outings for himself with his buddies.)
Nutrition
I’m still using the Paprika app to organize my recipes and plan our weekly menu. Having a plan in place reduces the amount that we’re eating out and helps us to eat more nutritiously. I build in healthy snacks throughout the week. I need to work on prepping the snacks ahead of time (cut up fruits and vegetables) so that I can access them more easily than the less healthy options. Simply having a list of nutritious snack ideas helps, too.
Exercise
I haven’t been able to get my regular exercise in because we’ve had a constantly shifting schedule during the day with Baby Harry. Now that he’s 6 months and has a relatively regular schedule with sleeping and eating, I’m finally ready to say that I have time to exercise at a regular time. I’ve decided it makes the most sense for me to exercise after my morning prayers before I make breakfast for the kids. If they wake up during this time, they can have quiet reading time until I’m done with my 30 Day Shred DVD. They love acting like my personal trainers with cheerleading or even joining in next to me, so maybe this will turn into a family activity!
Medication
I am so grateful to my Catholic OBGYN and nurse practitioner for helping to treat my hormone irregularities. Through using the Creighton Model and doing a simple blood draw, we were able to identify a progesterone deficiency. Supplementing my progesterone levels helped me to maintain a healthy pregnancy when I was pregnant with Harry. Assuming my progesterone levels remain low in the future, I will be able to get supplements earlier to greatly limit my risk of miscarriage. During the post-partum phase, my nurse practitioner was able to identify post-partum depression and successfully treat me with progesterone therapy. As my body gets back into the swing of things with a cycle, I am going to be on the lookout for PMS as progesterone therapy can limit those symptoms as well. I think Philip would appreciate that, too!
Hygiene and Grooming
With exercising in the morning, I’m still trying to figure out the best time to shower. When do you exercise and shower? I don’t think I’ll ever be a shower in the evening kinda gal. I never feel clean that way. I think I need to move my wake-up call to 5:00 in order to get it all done without interruption. We’ll see how my first week goes. Right now, I’m thinking things will look like this:
- 5:30 Wake up and get dressed to exercise
- 5:40-6:00 Eat breakfast and morning prayer (Daily Readings, Gospel reflection, Morning Offering)
- 6:00 30 Day Shred DVD
- 6:30 Shower (kids have quiet reading time if they’re awake)
- 7:00 Breakfast with kids
Blogging
30 minutes during the kids’ nap time
A few questions for you on the 2nd “P” of Person:
- How do you work on overcoming areas or habits of sin? Do you journal?
- What about rest? What kind of sleep are you getting lately? Do you have something resembling a Mother’s Sabbath? What would your time away look like?
- How do you plan your weekly menu for your crew? Do you have any tips or recipes you’d like to share?
- All of us are busy, but how do you find time to exercise? Do you have a program you love? Do you have any advice for a mama with little ones?
- Is there something you’re eating or a nutrition supplement that’s helping you to feel better? Have you identified any areas of concern in your health?
- When do you fit in your grooming needs? I’d love any tips or advice in this area since it’s tough to get ready AND exercise with the little ones!
- Blogger friends, how do you organize and fit in time to blog? Do you do something to help you organize your thoughts? I feel like my method is to pre-write it all in my head the day before and “brain dump” whenever I get a free chunk of time!
* * *
This is my 6th of 7 posts in Jen Fulwiler’s “7 Days, 7 Posts” challenge. Come on over, join in the fun link-up, and read some great blogs!
![The 1st "P" in Our Rule of Life: Prayer]()
by Catherine | Feb 26, 2014 | Faith, Family, Marriage
In case you missed it, part of my Lenten mission this year is to create a Boucher Family Rule of life modeled after Holly Pierlot’s A Mother’s Rule of Life.
Yesterday, I shared the essential tasks of my vocation and wrote a family mission statement.
Today, I’m starting my examination of the “5 P’s”
- Prayer
- Person
- Partner
- Parent
- Provider
I’ll tackle one “P” each day for the next five days.
First up: Prayer.
Holly Pierlot is right on when she writes that we have to schedule prayer “because God isn’t so obviously urgent, because he doesn’t pester us for our attention like our children or sloppy house can.” Holly suggests making a list of all of the things you think ought to comprise a healthy prayer life. For me and where I am in my spiritual journey, those things include:
- Morning Offering
- Remember that the work of my vocation is prayer and consciously offer each chunk of the day to God to “supernaturalize the day” and “tackle every task as a direct response to God, just as if he were asking you, ‘Will you go do your laundry now?'”
- Holly Pierlot has a tremendous section on overcoming sloth by offering God our efforts. She shares Fr. John Hardon’s definition of sloth as “sluggishness of soul or boredom of the exertion necessary for the performance of any good work.”
- Regularly offer God my efforts in mental prayer
- Daily Readings & Gospel Reflection
- Angelus at Noon
- Saint of the Day Reflection
- Family Prayer (Rosary, bedtime prayers, prayer to St. Joseph as our family’s patron saint)
- Couple Prayer with Philip before bed (reading from our Catechism reflection book and spontaneous prayer)
- Regular examination of conscience and regularly scheduled reconciliation
- Journaling about habits of sin and distractions from my vocation
- Mass (start small with one day each week in addition to Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation)
- Holy Hour (Share a holy hour with Philip and alternate weeks that we go)
- Formal Study (Currently working on The Bible Timeline)
After determining the things I would like to have as a part of my regular prayer life, Holly suggests actually putting them into your schedule. For me, it would look like this:
- Throughout the day: Offer chunks of time to God to “supernaturalize my day”
- Before kids wake up: Morning Offering, dedicate day to God, Daily Readings, and Gospel Reflection
- With kids at breakfast: Morning Offering and Saint of the Day Reflection
- 8:15: Daily Mass (starting with one day a week in addition to Sunday & Holy Days)
- Noon: Angelus with the children after lunch
- During children’s naptime: Formal study (Bible Timeline), examination of conscience and journaling (start with once a week)
- After dinner: Family prayer time (Rosary or special prayers according to liturgical season, bedtime prayers)
- 8:00 p.m. every other Tuesday: shared Holy Hour with Philip
- 9:30 p.m.: Couple prayer with Philip (Read from Catechism reflection book, spontaneous prayer)
A few questions for you:
- Do you have an examination of conscience that you particularly like and can share? What about a kid friendly examination?
- What resources do you use to enter into the Daily Readings? A special app? Homilies?
- Do you have a formal study that you would recommend?
- Do you have a saint of the day resource that is great for reading with children? How do you share the stories of saints with your children?
- What does your couple prayer time look like?
- Do you have any insights to share on prayer in general?
Tomorrow, I’ll take on the 2nd P: Person. That entails all of the things I need to do to keep my person healthy and ready to serve.
* * *
This is my 3rd of 7 posts in Jen Fulwiler’s “7 Days, 7 Posts” challenge. Come on over, join in the fun link-up, and read some great blogs!
![The 1st “P” in Our Rule of Life: Prayer]()
by Catherine | Feb 26, 2014 | Faith, Family, Marriage
In case you missed it, part of my Lenten mission this year is to create a Boucher Family Rule of life modeled after Holly Pierlot’s A Mother’s Rule of Life.
Yesterday, I shared the essential tasks of my vocation and wrote a family mission statement.
Today, I’m starting my examination of the “5 P’s”
- Prayer
- Person
- Partner
- Parent
- Provider
I’ll tackle one “P” each day for the next five days.
First up: Prayer.
Holly Pierlot is right on when she writes that we have to schedule prayer “because God isn’t so obviously urgent, because he doesn’t pester us for our attention like our children or sloppy house can.” Holly suggests making a list of all of the things you think ought to comprise a healthy prayer life. For me and where I am in my spiritual journey, those things include:
- Morning Offering
- Remember that the work of my vocation is prayer and consciously offer each chunk of the day to God to “supernaturalize the day” and “tackle every task as a direct response to God, just as if he were asking you, ‘Will you go do your laundry now?'”
- Holly Pierlot has a tremendous section on overcoming sloth by offering God our efforts. She shares Fr. John Hardon’s definition of sloth as “sluggishness of soul or boredom of the exertion necessary for the performance of any good work.”
- Regularly offer God my efforts in mental prayer
- Daily Readings & Gospel Reflection
- Angelus at Noon
- Saint of the Day Reflection
- Family Prayer (Rosary, bedtime prayers, prayer to St. Joseph as our family’s patron saint)
- Couple Prayer with Philip before bed (reading from our Catechism reflection book and spontaneous prayer)
- Regular examination of conscience and regularly scheduled reconciliation
- Journaling about habits of sin and distractions from my vocation
- Mass (start small with one day each week in addition to Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation)
- Holy Hour (Share a holy hour with Philip and alternate weeks that we go)
- Formal Study (Currently working on The Bible Timeline)
After determining the things I would like to have as a part of my regular prayer life, Holly suggests actually putting them into your schedule. For me, it would look like this:
- Throughout the day: Offer chunks of time to God to “supernaturalize my day”
- Before kids wake up: Morning Offering, dedicate day to God, Daily Readings, and Gospel Reflection
- With kids at breakfast: Morning Offering and Saint of the Day Reflection
- 8:15: Daily Mass (starting with one day a week in addition to Sunday & Holy Days)
- Noon: Angelus with the children after lunch
- During children’s naptime: Formal study (Bible Timeline), examination of conscience and journaling (start with once a week)
- After dinner: Family prayer time (Rosary or special prayers according to liturgical season, bedtime prayers)
- 8:00 p.m. every other Tuesday: shared Holy Hour with Philip
- 9:30 p.m.: Couple prayer with Philip (Read from Catechism reflection book, spontaneous prayer)
A few questions for you:
- Do you have an examination of conscience that you particularly like and can share? What about a kid friendly examination?
- What resources do you use to enter into the Daily Readings? A special app? Homilies?
- Do you have a formal study that you would recommend?
- Do you have a saint of the day resource that is great for reading with children? How do you share the stories of saints with your children?
- What does your couple prayer time look like?
- Do you have any insights to share on prayer in general?
Tomorrow, I’ll take on the 2nd P: Person. That entails all of the things I need to do to keep my person healthy and ready to serve.
* * *
This is my 3rd of 7 posts in Jen Fulwiler’s “7 Days, 7 Posts” challenge. Come on over, join in the fun link-up, and read some great blogs!
![Creating Our Boucher Family Rule of Life: Getting Started]()
by Catherine | Feb 25, 2014 | Faith, Family, Marriage, The Homefront
 |
| Holy Family, pray for us! |
In case you missed it, part of my Lenten mission this year is to create a Boucher Family Rule of Life modeled after Holly Pierlot’s A Mother’s Rule of Life.
First of all, what in the world is a Rule of Life? As Holly Pierlot defines it, a Rule of Life “consists primarily in the examination of one’s vocation and the duties it entails, and the development of a schedule for fulfilling these responsibilities in a consistent and orderly way.”
So, before I get started on creating a schedule, I need to determine 2 things:
- What is my vocation?
- What essential duties does my vocation entail?
1. What is my vocation?
To determine my vocation, I considered what I call the proper order of relationships. First and foremost, I am a Child of God. Second, I am a wife. Third, I am a mother. I am all of these things, but it is essential that I keep them in this proper order.
2. What essential duties does my vocation entail?
I could go on and on listing all kinds of duties for my vocation, but I need to pare it down to the essentials to make our Family Rule effective.
- Child of God: Sustain a regular prayer life, frequent the sacraments, attend Mass, and show my love of God through my love of neighbor. I also have the responsibility to care for myself (personal prayer, recreation, good nutrition, exercise, rest) so that I can perform all of my duties well.
- Wife: Holly Pierlot quotes Blessed Pope John Paul II as saying that love could be defined as “availability, acceptance, and help.” As a wife, I have the duty to: be available to my husband (spiritually, physically, intellectually, creatively, emotionally), be accepting of all of him, and to be a helper instead of a hindrance on his journey to sainthood. In order to fulfill my duties as a wife, I need to keep my relationship with Philip second only to my relationship with God, but above all other relationships–even our children.
- Mother: I can’t sum up my duties as a mother more succinctly than Holly Pierlot did in her section on parenting. She says that parenting “is a call to form persons. We’re called to bring God to our children’s spirits, truth to their minds, health to their bodies, skill to their hands, beauty and creativity to their hearts, and in all this, virtue to their wills and sanctity to their souls.” To be my children’s primary educator means remembering Pope Pius XI’s wise words that, “Education consists essentially in preparing man for what he must be, and for what he must do here below, in order to attain the sublime end for which he was created.” In sum, it’s my job as a Christian mother to foster my children’s relationship with God so that they can: hear His voice calling them to their specific vocation, receive the graces to live it out well, and glorify Him through their lives as a preparation for their eternal reward with Him. Ultimately, my job as a mother is to raise my children to become saints.
If those are only the essential duties I have as a Child of God, wife, and mother, I have A LOT to do each day! Now that I have my essential duties listed, we need define our family’s mission (what we’re doing and why) before we create a schedule. That will help our family to maintain our focus and purpose as we go about our everyday lives. Philip and I worked together to create our family mission statement. Here it is:
The Boucher Family is domestic church whose mission is to know, love, and serve God. Our aim is to live intentionally as Jesus’ disciples, propel one another to sainthood, and joyfully share our love of God with others.
I love our family mission statement! It really pares it down to what we’re supposed to be doing everyday. I’m printing it off and putting it on our refrigerator. Maybe someday I can get it beautifully painted on canvas to be hung in a prominent place in our home. (Any crafty friends out there know of a way for me to do this?)
Now that I have my vocation’s duties outlined and our family mission statement written, I need to draft our family’s schedule. In order to do that, I will be examining what Holly Pierlot calls the “5 Ps.”
- Prayer
- Person
- Partner
- Parent
- Provider
Tomorrow, I’ll focus on the first P, Prayer.
Until then, I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this. Heck, I want to have a book club to discuss everything I’m uncovering in A Mother’s Rule of Life! What are the essential duties of your vocation? If you had a family mission statement, what would it say? Are you fulfilling the essential duties of your vocation? If not, what practical changes can you make today? What is keeping you from fulfilling your essential duties? Are you preventing someone else from fulfilling his/her essential duties?
If you’re interested in creating your own Rule of Life, read A Mother’s Rule of Life and visit Holly Pierlot’s website for some great resources.
* * *
This is my 2nd of 7 posts in Jen Fulwiler’s “7 Posts, 7 Days” challenge. Come on over, join in the fun link-up, and read some great blogs!
![One way that I'm gearing up for Lent]()
by Catherine | Feb 21, 2014 | Faith, Family, Marriage, Uncategorized
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:
- Prayer
- Person
- Partner
- Parent
- 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!
