No one celebrates when they hear the words, “Be obedient.” Obedience recalls overbearing bosses or unforgiving teachers needing absolute control. We think we’re masters of our destinies, that no one else is our boss, and obedience challenges our control of our lives. I do what I want when I want, I tell myself, and no one has any authority over me. When I hear Benedict say, in chapter five of the Rule, “The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience,” I’m skeptical. We’re conscious, too, of those who have abused positions of authority, when those with power used the obedience of others for their own gratification rather than the greater good.

For Benedict,though, life in the monastery under the Rule must include obedience. Those living under the Rule give up their right to choose everything they do; instead, they follow the directions of their superiors, to whom they are obedient. When we see past our hesitations with obedience, we see that Benedict is calling us to something more significant than our momentary desires. For Benedict obedience is not empowering dictators; it is giving ourselves to a cause greater than our own whims. Benedict says those living in obedience “put aside their own concerns, abandon their own will, and lay down whatever they have in hand.” We live this type of obedience when we give ourselves to something greater than ourselves. When a dad comes home after an extra-long day at work and wants to just escape in front of the TV but he chooses instead to play catch with his son who has been waiting by the door for him, the dad is practicing obedience. When a mom sits at the cleared dinner table helping her child with the math homework when she’d rather call it a day, she’s practicing obedience. When the church member, who doesn’t like the decision his or her church has made, chooses to stick with the church, giving and participating just as before, obedience is happening. When we set aside a moment’s wants for a lasting good, we’re living obedience.

It’s worth asking: what do I give myself to, even sacrificing what I might want, and live in obedience to a more significant calling?