Creating a Mother’s Rule of Life – How I’m Slowly Changing My Days
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure and privacy policy for more information. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
For a long time, I’ve felt the quiet tension between who I am called to be and how my days actually unfold.
I love my home. I love my children. I love the vision I carry for a peaceful, intentional family life. And yet so many days feel reactive instead of rooted. Full, but not always fruitful. Busy, but not always ordered.
If you’re a mother, especially one balancing home, homeschooling, work, and the unseen labor of holding it all together, you may recognize that feeling.
That’s why I’m beginning this series on A Mother’s Rule of Life, and inviting you to walk this path with me.
With a new year here, and my family and I personally in a brand new home, I figured now is the perfect time to make this big change.
What Is a Mother’s Rule of Life?
Have you ever heard of a rule of life? This idea goes back to St. Benedict. St. Benedict was a Christian monk who founded the Benedictine monastery. He wrote The Rule of St. Benedict which centered around prayer, work, and communal life for those monks living in the monastery. His motto was, ora et labora, pray and work.
In her book, A Mother’s Rule of Life, Holly Pierlot takes a different approach to the rule by adapting it for busy mothers. As a homeschool mom of five, she found herself drowning in the responsibilities of her vocation and decided to do something about it. Thus, A Mother’s Rule of Life was born.
A Mother’s Rule of Life centers around the 5 P’s often associated with marriage and motherhood:
- Prayer
- Person
- Partner
- Parent
- Provider
From the back of the book, a “Mother’s Rule of Life [is] a pattern for living that combines the spiritual wisdom of the monastery with the practical wisdom of motherhood. Holly’s Rule is not just another set of schedules; it’s a way for Christian mothers to answer God’s call to holiness. With the help of your on Rule, get control of your own household, grow closer to God, come to love your husband more, and raise up good Christian children.”
I invite you to join me in this series as I go through the 5 P’s in my own life. I’m in a season where I crave integration.
I don’t want my faith, my home life, my work, and my motherhood to feel like competing priorities. I want them to flow together to support one another instead of pulling me in opposite directions.
How This Series Will Work
I’m not sharing as an expert who has it all figured out. I’m going through this in real time right alongside you.
I’ll be sharing:
- What I’m learning as I work through the process
- The questions I’m asking myself (and sometimes struggling to answer)
- How I’m adapting the idea of a Rule of Life to real motherhood
- The small changes I’m making and how they’re impacting my days
Some posts will be reflective. Others will be practical. All of them will be honest.
My hope is that this series feels less like instruction and more like companionship, as if we’re sitting at the same kitchen table, talking through what it looks like to live well in the midst of ordinary days.
If you’ve been feeling stretched thin, quietly longing for more peace, or unsure how to shape your days in a way that reflects your values this series is for you.
I recently finished reading this book and am looking forward to reading your thoughts and changes! I have two children in school and work part time while they are at school but there’s so much to be gleaned from this book for anyone even without kids.