“Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.”
— Proverbs 13:24 (NIV)
elve-inch ruler against her palm as she shuffled back and forth in front of her sixth graders. Funny how some memories still strike terror into hearts that are technically “young at heart.”
She had a ruler.
And she wasn’t afraid to use it.
The word ruler comes from the Old French reule and the Latin regula, meaning a straight stick—a guide. It shares a root with regere, “to lead” or “to make straight,” which is also where we get words connected to royalty—those who “rule.”
By the 6th century, regula came to describe something very different from Sister Sheila’s classroom enforcement tool. It became associated with spiritual communities like the Rule of Saint Benedict.
But here’s the key: a Rule wasn’t a list of “Do this or you’re grounded.” It was a framework. A trellis. A structure designed to help a person—or a community—grow in a specific direction.
Benedict understood something profound: if you put a bunch of humans together without a shared rhythm, chaos wins. So he created a pattern of prayer, work, study, and rest—a rhythm that aimed hearts toward God.
Think vineyard.
For a vine to “bear much fruit,” it needs a trellis. The trellis lifts it off the ground and guides it toward the light. Without it, the vine produces a fraction of what it’s capable of—and even that is vulnerable to disease and predators.
A Rule of Life for humans does what a trellis does for grapes.
Years ago, I developed what I called a personal “operating system”—a scorecard. Not everyone loved the word. It sounded a little… corporate. But it functioned much like Benedict’s Rule. It helped ensure that my daily activities aligned with my deepest values.
Recently, I read Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer, and he gave language to what the Spirit has been teaching me for years:
A Rule of Life is a schedule, set of practices, and relational rhythms that create space for us to be with Jesus, become like Him, and do as He did.
That’s it.
A Rule isn’t about earning anything. It’s about arranging your life around apprenticeship to Jesus.
Without a rule, you live reactively—responding to texts, emails, headlines, and other people’s agendas.
With a rule, you live proactively—with focus, direction, and passion.
It’s how you leverage an ordinary Wednesday for eternal impact.
Sister Sheila and the nuns at St. Mary’s almost certainly had both kinds of rulers—the wooden kind and the regula kind. Beneath the discipline was a deeper goal: formation. They were training us for lives of meaning and purpose.
Discipline is never the destination.
It’s the pathway.
Rule of Life practices are disciplines based on the lifestyle of Jesus that create space for us to access the presence and power of the Spirit—and be transformed from the inside out.
Which brings us home.
“Run the play” is another way of saying: run the rule.
Don’t drift.
Don’t react.
Design your life around becoming like Jesus.
Finding Our Place in the Story
Where am I currently living reactively instead of intentionally? What rhythms or practices might Jesus be inviting me to build into my daily life?
If my current schedule reveals what I truly value, what does it say about who (or what) I am becoming? What small trellis could I put in place this week to guide my growth toward Christlikeness?
How can our community encourage one another to “run the rule” — not through pressure or performance, but through shared rhythms that help us be with Jesus, become like Him, and do as He did?
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