Finding Your Sacred Rhythms | The Rule of Life Series, Pt. 6

Text Michele

Forget rigid religious routines and spiritual guilt trips! This episode is your permission slip to ditch the pressure and rediscover spiritual growth as a rhythm of grace. Michele Kus flips the script on spiritual disciplines, showing how a Rule of Life isn’t a religious blueprint or straitjacket but a Spirit-led canvas where grace gets to breathe, change, and grow with you. 

Drawing from her own journey (including the evolution of this podcast!), Michele invites you to reimagine spiritual practices as flexible, life-giving rhythms that ebb and flow with your real life — not some idealized version of it. If you’ve ever felt stuck, tired, burned out, or boxed in by your spiritual “shoulds,” this episode is for you. Tune in, take a breath, and let grace lead. 

Today’s Reflection Questions:

• Am I holding my Rule of Life like a blueprint to control or a rhythm to enjoy?
• What’s one part of my current rhythm that feels a little too rigid — and might need space to breathe a little more?

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Welcome to Today’s Kus Word — where life coaching meets spiritual formation! Join musician, life coach, and spiritual formation prof Michele Kus, as she serves up short, powerful teachings, immersive meditations, bold declarations, and holy f(reedom)-bombs that are based solidly in scripture, grace theology, and positive psychology. Whether you’re seeking calm, clarity, courage, healing, deeper self-awareness, or just a fresh Kingdom perspective, throw on your headphones and tune into your next breakthrough. #TodaysKusWord

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Episode Transcript

Michele (00:00):
It's Friday, May 9th, and this is Today's Kus Word.
It's Friday, fam, and you knowwhat that means! Time to light
the fuse and drop another freshfreedom bomb.
This is your spiritual growthcoach, Michele Kus, dropping in
with your weekly Kus Word toinspire you, challenge you, and

(00:22):
throw some Miracle Grow on yoursoul.
Hello, okay, I don't know ifthis is going to be a weekly
show, an every day during theweek show, or an every third day
show.
I'm still trying to figure outa rhythm for this show that

(00:43):
works for my life.
So thank you for joining me onthat exciting adventure.
And just to get you caught up,if you haven't been following
along with the episodes, we'vebeen talking about spiritual
growth the last few episodes.
We've been talking about howproximity to the truth does not

(01:03):
guarantee our transformation andhow time alone doesn't mature
us, and we talked about creatingsacred space, time alone with
God.
And then I gave you an AIepisode.
No, that was not me narratingon the last episode.

(01:23):
I do not have that good of avoice.
I wish I did, but I actuallywas not feeling very well.
So I just fired up the AInarrator and she gave you the
episode on the Rule of Life andhow that's like a trellis, which
is like a supportive structurehelping you grow in the right

(01:46):
direction.
So we're going to continue inthat theme today with Today's
Kus Word, which is your Rule ofLife isn't a cage, it's a canvas
.
So we talked last episode.
Well, my narrator, my AInarrator, talked about how a
Rule of Life is not a spiritualto-do list, but we talked about

(02:08):
how it's a rhythm of grace.
It's not this list of religiouschores, but it's a rhythm of
grace.
It's a rhythm that you need tohave working for you.
And I want to go a little bitdeeper about this, because it's
just not something we talk aboutvery much in the Christian
world.

(02:29):
And your rule of life if youhave one, or maybe you're
thinking about crafting one it'snot something that you need to
get just right.
It's not something you need toperfect.
It's kind of like this podcastyou kind of mold it and shape it
and work with it as you go andit might change over time and

(02:49):
it's something you participatein.
So you're not creating thisspiritual blueprint that you
have to stick with and thatyou're going to be graded on or
something that's going to setsome of you free.
You're not going to be testedon this.
It's just a tool.
It's really just a tool for you.
It's not about control, butit's just about helping you stay

(03:12):
clear on the things that aremost important to you.
So you're sketching out thiskind of sacred rhythm in your
life that helps you stay rootedand grounded and connected with
what is most important to you.
And the thing is it's not carvedin stone, so you can think of
this like wet cement.

(03:32):
It's something that's going tochange over time.
It's not rigid.
It's really flexible, it'sadaptable, it's alive and
breathing.
It can bend, depending on theseason that you're in.
It can breathe depending onyour, your schedule, your life,
your commitments.
So it's something that you wantto work for you.

(03:55):
It's almost like how, when Jesussaid that Sabbath was made for
man, not man for Sabbath, right?
So the rule of life is for you.
It's something that's supposedto work for you.
Really you can adapt.
It's just an ongoingconversation between you and the
Holy Spirit on what's workingfor you in this season.

(04:18):
So it's really about just beingreally present with God, being
in communication with Him andhaving that adaptability.
So instead of asking yourselfwhat is the perfect rule of life
, you can ask yourself what'sgiving me life in this season of
my life?
And it's okay to have things inyour life in this season that

(04:43):
maybe aren't life-giving to youthe way they once were.
So it's very possible that youhave done something in your life
that was really life-giving fora season and it might not be so
much anymore, and that'sperfectly okay.
So you can just ask the Lord,hey, what helps me stay rooted

(05:04):
and grounded in you and in grace?
And just let the Spirit leadyou with curiosity.
There's no condemnation oranything like that.
So that's basically what I gotfor you today, and I have a
couple of reflection questionsthat you can think about.
I'll put these down in the shownotes if you want to see them
written out.

(05:25):
The first question that you canask yourself is: Am I holding
my rule of life like a blueprintto control or a rhythm to enjoy
?
So, like I said, this issomething that is meant to be
enjoyable, flexible, and if it'sbecoming too controlling, too

(05:48):
rigid in your life, you mightwant to rethink it.

And then the next question is: What's one part of my current (05:52):
undefined
rhythm that feels a little toorigid?
Maybe there's something thatmight need some space to breathe
a little bit more.
So I'll give you an example.
When I first launched or Ishould say relaunched this

(06:12):
podcast, my goal was to do fiveminutes a day, five days a week.
And, if you listen to some ofthe older episodes, that's what
I said in the intro, this isToday's Kus Word your five
minutes a day, five days a week,spiritual freedom bomb.
I don't even know what I said,but I thought it's going to be
super doable.

(06:32):
It's only five minutes a day.
Well, it turned out.
Doing, trying to do that in thebeginning overtook my life.
I wasn't able to engage withthe rest of my life the way that
I wanted to, and it was takinga ton of time.
So I had to scale it way backand say, okay, well, I'm going
to do it once a week.
And then those episodes got tobe really long, and then I

(06:56):
thought, well, maybe I'll justdo it like a few times a week
and make them shorter.
And I'm still kind of trying tofigure out where I'm going to
land with this.
I'm not going to quit, but it'swet cement.
So and that's what your rule oflife can be too it can be wet
cement.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
You don't have to have it allfigured out before you start.
You can just sort of go and seewhat works for you.

(07:19):
Maybe reading 10 minutes ofscripture every morning is
working for you, maybe it isn't.
Maybe you need to read it atnight.
Maybe you need to listen to itin headphones.
Maybe you just pray at night.
Maybe you take a lunch breakwalk and that's when you spend
time with God, play around withit, play around with all of this
stuff.
It's okay to spirituallyexperiment and see what works

(07:45):
between you and God and, like Isaid, it might change depending
on the season that you're in too.
So if you have a bunch oflittle kids that you need to get
ready for school in the morning, maybe you can't do a 20-minute
Bible study in the morning.
Maybe it's something that needsto wait until they're in bed.
You get what I'm saying.
All right, so let me pray forus.

(08:06):
Holy Spirit, I give you myrhythms, my plans, I give you
all my perfectionistictendencies, and I ask you to
teach me to hold my habits withan open hand, and let this rule
of life that we're talking aboutthis week reflect freedom and

(08:27):
not control or rigidness.
Let it reflect curiosity,flexibility and grace over grind
.
And Lord, would you shape usall, everybody listening and
myself included.
Just shape us gently, help ussee the beauty of your presence

(08:47):
in the process of all of this.
We lift you up.
We love you.
It's in the mighty beautifulname of Jesus I pray.
Amen.
And that is what I got for youtoday.
My friend, if you liked it, sendme a text message.
There's a link down in the shownotes that says Text Michele,

(09:07):
just tap that link on your phoneand send me a text message.
Sorry guys, it only works inthe United States and Canada.
I found that out.
So if you're in a country otherthan the United States and
Canada, the text messagingdoesn't work yet.
Sorry about that, but if youare in the US or Canada, you are
free to text the show.

(09:28):
It's a one-way text message soI can't text you back,
unfortunately, but I would loveto know your biggest takeaway
and what you think of theseepisodes and if there's anything
in particular you'd like me tocover on this show, send that in
your text message as well.
I will take requests.

(09:49):
I am a DJ.
That's kind of one of my sidegigs.
So I thought you know what?
As a DJ, it's always nice totake requests from people, and
as a podcaster, it's probablyequally nice to take requests
from listeners.
So if you have a request of atopic you want me to cover, send
it over in a text message.
I would love to hear it anduntil next time, have a great

(10:12):
day.
Happy Mother's Day to all themothers, mamas, spiritual mamas,
aunts, grandmas.
You know who you are.
Have a wonderful Mother's Dayand I will see you next time.