Last year I offered the invitation to my readers to consider a word shimmering for them that might carry them throughout the year. There were 140 beautiful postings and I later created a Wordle from the entries as a celebration of the prayers gathered. I offer the same invitation this year and again some prizes to give away:
In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to God and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner’s fire and be stripped down to one’s holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered.
Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word – this word or phrase would be something on which to ponder for many days, weeks, months, sometimes a whole lifetime. This practice is connected to lectio divina, where we approach the sacred texts with the same request – “give me a word” we ask – something to nourish me, challenge me, a word I can wrestle with and grow into.
Last year my word for the year was sovereignty and it ripened in me as the year unfolded leading me to new discoveries about myself. I resisted the word at first, as I didn’t like the sound of it. But I knew in all the internal energy it stirred up that I needed to pay attention. When I allowed my heart to soften, the word began to shimmer in me, rang long and clear like a chime (hint: sometimes the word which creates resistance in us is the one we most need to pay attention to).
This year my word is sanctuary. This past week I had to go to the emergency room while alone in a foreign country because of leg pain and shortness of breath. I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and a blood clot in my leg and admitted to the hospital for two nights of treatment and observation. I am being medically supervised now and will be fine, but the experience was dis-orienting in many ways (in the sense of calling me to a new orientation). I have much to process in the coming weeks, but for now I remember as I lay there in the midst of unknowing, that my thoughts were aligned to home, to my husband, to my friends, to my heart-expanding work, to a longing for the refuge of the familiar, but also a profound sense of sanctuary right in the midst of where I was. The sanctuary in a church is the place where the holy of holies dwells, but we also create sanctuaries for animals needing protection or for persons fleeing persecution. The layers to this word and how it seems to reach out to me prompts me to choose it as my word for the year to see what else it has to reveal to me.
- What is your word for the year ahead? A word which contains within it a seed of invitation to cross a new threshold?
- What word, phrase, or image is shimmering before you right now inviting you to dwell with it until it ripens fully inside of you?
Share your word in the comments below before Monday, January 3rd.
Leave your word for the year ahead in the comments below plus a couple of sentences describing your choice. Please note that I have my comments moderated (meaning I need to manually approve them) so it may not show up immediately, but should within 24 hours.
343 Responses
My word is DARE.
Dare to do something, not just dream and plan and organize to be ready. Dare to take the next step in my art. I’ve been standing on the edge afraid to take the next step for a long time.
My word is any form of the word ASTONISH!
I’ve been drawn to Mary Oliver’s poem “Messenger” in which she writes about her work of loving the world and “…standing still and learning to be astonished.” I wish to cultivate astonishment this year. May I be present to all that is placed on and along my path this year … may I have eyes to see and a heart that knows when to stand still and be astonished!
Everything Mary Oliver writes is Astonishing! And so you shall be.
Two words came to me:
forgiveness and equanimity
I’ve chosen forgiveness.
I think forgiveness of self and others will be helpful for 2011.
Thank you for the invitation.
My word is “ordinary.” Because I’m resisting it, I figure that means I should pay attention to it. Some of the things to learn from “ordinary”: nothing special, nowhere to go and no one to be, no big Accomplishments or Achievements, a steady, simple being, detached from outcomes.
Yikes.
My word for the new year is lit. This Christmas season I was very touched by the beautiful image of a moon-lit fir tree in the forest with stars shining through its branches. Its a tender picture I want to hold in my heart all year long as I remember and ponder the holy word – to those who walked in darkness now seeing a great light; to those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined – to give light to those who still sit in darkness and guidance in the way of peace.
Growth, strength in Spirit and increased bright star-shining Christ-light to you Christine and to all! Thank you for the work you do and the witness you give!
I sat for a while and nothing came to me. So I went about my day and the word that came up was courage.
There are changes in my life that require courage to walk through in the New Year. Also courage to open myself to more of the Unknown & Mystery. Thanks for the prompt!
My word wants to be “flourishing.” I have been savoring it for days. I am 42 years old, have four children 15 down to four, and I am menopausal. I sense that I have walked though an open door, and I am standing there, fearful and paralyzed. The word ‘flourishing” gives me permission to resurrect childhood and adolescent passions, such as ballet, poetry, theatre. Flourishing means flow, water, boldness, growing, coming out, time for me to move away from childrearing and to nurture myself alongside my children. Flourishing is expansive, it permits risks, grandeur, extravagant searches for the True, Beautiful and Good. To flourish means not to be petty with oneself or others, to allow space and time for the important things, the easy flowing of blood though arteries and veins, humor, laughter, lightness… and above all, no fear. Love all around,love given out but also expected in. Harmony. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify 2011 intentions.
Beautiful Christina! I am menopausal too and wow does it draw me closer to Providence. I choose to flourish also! Hallelujah! Blessed be!
The word I received for the coming year is “manifest” ~~ What is ripening inside me now? This question arose in response to the Biblical verse, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.” This promise is given anew for us today. Something is waiting to make its presence known in the world. If I can consent to open myself without reservation to Truth, a revolution in knowing and being can break forth. My life will fulfill its original promise. Spirit bids me release my hold, my control, my insistence on having things go my way. It’s a scary leap into the unknown, an intention and a promise that will manifest only when I let go.
i knew if i waited, my word would come…
a dear friend gave me a little book of inspirational quotes for xmas…
‘be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid of standing still’, a chinese proverb so resonated…
having struggled with the effects of the stroke for over 3 years now, with the oh-so-slow progress, this word is a true gift…
if i can just accept each day i am indeed growing/progressing/changing, even oh-so-slowly, and i am not simply standing still, i can be at peace :)
even a glacier-movement IS a movement…
Joy! Isaiah 35.