Martin Luther King, Jr. would’ve been 92 today. More than ever, we need the wisdom of the Baptist minister turned civil rights leader.

“Only through an inner spiritual transformation,” he wrote, ​“do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit.”

Lasting inner transformation requires two things: healing and habit.

Healing, because we all have untreated traumas of commission and omission that only God can set to right. And habit, because the mind doesn’t automatically renew itself — it needs rhythms of grace practiced in community and in solitude.

On the habit side, one helpful ancient tool is called a rule of life. And I sense a need to pause here…

At this point I’ve been around the spiritual formation world for 20 years and honestly I still get a little tripped up by some of the terms we use. Insider lingo is good for consolidating ideas. Rule of life, Lectio Divina, examen, and other such terms are what Tom Wright calls ​“suitcase words.” They need unpacking. They’re helpful as far as they go, but we never want to focus on the suitcase and forget that it’s what’s inside that matters.

The aim of our webinar next week is to help unpack the how and why of a rule of life, which I’d define as a rhythm of stuff you do and people you connect with to help your soul flourish. (Come to the webinar for a better definition!)

The goal is not to give you ​“one more thing to fail at,” or make life heavier and more constricted. Just the opposite. A rule of life is a canvas, a backyard fence, a pleasantly-drawn boundary line that liberates.

We hope you’ll join us for the free webinar on Tuesday, January 19.