Esther – My Promise for 2025
What prevents me from preferring nothing whatever to Christ?
Two things get in the way of acting like I prefer Christ. 1) When my human doesn’t react fast enough to my desire to play. I then give her a swat, behavior that is NOT condoned in the Rule. 2) When humans come over. I hide and grumble.
Practices from the Rule to help me craft my promise:
“You must honor everyone (1 Pet 2:17), and never do to another what you do not want done to yourself” (Tob 4:16; Matt 7:12; Luke 6:31)….Renounce yourself in order to follow Christ (Matt 16:24; Luke 9:23)” RB 4.8-10
“Do not grumble.” RB 4.39
“As soon as wrongful thoughts come into your heart, dash them against Christ and disclose them to your spiritual guide.” RB 4.50
“All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, who said: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt 25:35). Proper honor must be shown to all, especially to those who share our faith (Gal 6:10) and to pilgrims.” RB 53.1-2
My 2025 Promise:
When my human won’t play with me, I mew to Jesus to help me not swat my human and to be more patient. Instead of grumbling and mewing bad things about visitors I will instead swat my grumbly thoughts against Christ. Then I will tell my mom, Novice Sasha, all those negative mews.
What my human needs to learn to help her prefer nothing whatever to Christ:
My mom needs to learn how to balance her time. She is out of the house way too often and is not here to fill my bowl fast enough! And when she is home, she is always busy on that machine on her desk. She needs to spend time with us!
Practices from the Rule to help my human craft her promise:
“… community members should have specified periods for manual labor as well as for prayerful reading…But after Sext and their meal, they may rest on their beds in complete silence.” RB 48. 2, 5a
“…all things are to be done with moderation on account of the fainthearted.” RB 48.9
“The cellarer will provide the members [more than] their allotted amount of food without any pride or delay, lest they be led astray.” RB 31.16 Modified by Esther
My Human’s 2025 Promise:
Esther asks you to join her and craft your own 2025 Promise.