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.
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I posted a different word earlier (I think it was welcome), but I am sensing perhaps that was my 2010 word. The word that is shimmering for me in the last weeks is “rise.” It came first in the song “What if” (the lovely lyric is “Who would you be if you came out of hiding? What name will you claim, will you rise for your entrance?”) and it keeps showing up in other contexts…
You know, I’ve changed my word, based on the video you shared in one of your posts. The new word is Glósóli. Which according to wikipedia can be understood as a childish way of saying “glowing sun” or “let the sun glow”. My other choice was “allow”. But you know, “let the sun glow” just feels closer to heart for this year. In a way it means the same thing, if I allow things to come to me and be as they are, in a way I am letting the sun glow. So, even though I don’t know how to pronounce it, I feel so drawn to it. It feels just right :)
Star is my word. Through Advent the star was my image-the illumination, the dispelling of darkness, the brilliance and joy, the invitation to follow…Thank you, Christine, for a deep and lovely way to rethink a New Year’s resolution. I like this so much better!
My phrase for the year..
Record-Keeper
Like an old tall tree standing, observing & recording all that my senses, sense. Being present, not judging.
It’s going to be a tall order for a doer & organizer like myself!
Thank you for sharing your words. As soon as I saw surrender, I knew that was calling to me. The freedom of letting go.
Receive…receive is my word. Open your hand to receive your blessings as an eagle’s nest or an autumn leaf palm up on the ground receives its blessings
I’ve been praying about this for a couple of weeks and this morning when I was at Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and I was gazing at the Monstrance a beautiful light was being cast upon the Monstrance from the sun shining in on the stained glass windows of the church. The light was a brilliant yellow and beautiful blue. God seemed to be saying to me-“hope in me”-there was the crib scene in front of the altar with Jesus, the babe, with His arms outstretched offering hope for all. Likewise the huge Crucifix above the altar with Jesus again stretching out His arms redeeming the whole world. Then the Monstrance with the beautiful light coming from the Host, reminded me of the hope we are given each time we come to Him in the Blessed Sacrament or receive Him in Holy Communion. My prayer for myself and you is that we could look to Jesus in the manger, Jesus on the cross and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament as we start another year, and be mindful of the hope He gives, especially when we get down or discouraged with things that are going on in the world. My word is HOPE. I wish you a Blessed and hope filled New Year.
my word for 2011…”nurture.”
Word is RECLAIM
When I saw this invitation, I immediately decided to pass. It felt awkward and impossible. I was browsing through the site and decided to stop here again. I wondered how I could ‘let a word choose me’. After reading through the page and comments, as I reached the end, this word entered my mind…Connection.
What/Who am I connected to? Reflection and openness to evaluate and discover. Perhaps my soul needs a shift.