We all have our little palaces to tend and kingdoms to rule. Almost all of us have someone to whom it matters, up close and personal, whether we live out the royal law of love . . . or not.
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. (James 2:8, ESV)
We can make our little kingdoms “divine,” if we will, and we can look to our calling and call it good. We can do what needs to be done that love will increase.
What about the trappings of the cloister? What about them? The order, the disciplined regime, the silence, the simplicity, the healthy diet, the unbroken days and weeks of worship and prayer, the built-in assurances that offences will not mount up?
Have it, dear Sisters! Have it! Have all that you can and never fret about the rest! Be done with excuses in at least one area . . . pray for your spouse every day, even if the roof caves in. Read your Bible before you leave the house . . . or before you have breakfast! Determine that you will never, ever leave worship to the rocks and stones, and when you make one of those determinations, you will see how to make sure you are reigning in the palace of your purpose on earth.
Just as Elizabeth works her way through her “red boxes” every day, no matter how busy that day has been, no matter where she is . . . and no matter if she has been able to steal a day of relaxation away from the tug of affairs of state and public appearances . . . so go before your Lord and Liege and by His grace and strength, attend to one “conversatio” conversion . . . say in the monastery of your heart, “I rule here, in Christ Jesus my Lord, and my rule is law.”
"A Kingdom of Geese"
photo by Kerry
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