52 Books Update

Not sure how often I will post about my books, since I doubt you all want to read about every book, but I will post the occasional update. I re-read A Mother's Rule of Life last week, and spent several hours making notes and creating a new rule for myself and a new plan for chores and the rest. I am looking forward to implementing it this week, and hope it will help us to get back on track for the new year in contrast to the chaos of the past few months! If you are not familiar with this book, it is a wonderful guide to putting some organization into your life. Pierlot approaches it from a spiritual perspective, rather than a strict "scheduling" perspective, using the monastic concept of a "rule," which is a prescribed way of living within a monastic community. Orthodox Christians should have a prayer rule as a part of Orthodox living - a set plan of prayer for each day. This rule is often created with the guidance of a spiritual father, and goes beyond the idea of rules to live by in a legalistic sense, rather creating a framework of accountability for the Christian life. With this in mind, Pierlot guides the reader through the five areas of a mother's life - prayer, person, partner, parent, provider - asking the reader to prayerfully consider what she needs to do within those areas to accomplish God's calling for her. Putting all of those areas together, one is left with a basic outline for the day - not necessarily with strict times, but with an order to the day. It is a very doable concept, and much more natural than a rigorous daily schedule.
After finishing A Mother's Rule of Life, I moved on to Acedia & Me, by Kathleen Norris. Norris is a poet and the author of one of my favorite little books, The Quotidian Mysteries, and Acedia & Me is a deeper exploration of the topics she touched on in QM. I am enjoying this book a great deal, and imagine I will spend several weeks on it. In the mean time I also intend to re-read The Quotidian Mysteries.