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
EMERGE…
After years of being quiet and hidden,largely as the result of beig far too overweight, I have spent the last two years making some major changes in my life. As the weight has come off, the hidden self is beginning to express herself, to find the courage to break forth. So the word that has found me is EMERGE! Happy New Year to all of you and prayers for you all as you embark on your respective journeys!
Congratulations to you, Laura, on losing weight and wishing you many blessings as you “emerge” into the greater world and “merge” into the person God is calling you to be!
The word that chose me for this upcoming year is “wonder.” It came as I was watching a Christmas movie and saw the look in a child’s eyes as she watched Santa fly away. There was something so breathtaking and beautiful about her look, as she allowed herself to be captured by the moment.. There was an innocence…a purity. Both the word and the child’s eyes and smile have stayed with me. I sense there are many layers to this word, and much that wants to ripen in me!
— One that arouses awe, astonishment, surprise, or admiration; a marvel
–The emotion aroused by something awe-inspiring, astounding, or marvelous:
— An event inexplicable by the laws of nature; a miracle.
— A feeling of puzzlement
I spent time trying to select a word which moved me. It made me tense. Another word appeared (not chosen by me) Simplicity. In my spiritual life and in my creative weaving life I often become over complicated, sorround myself in words, explanations and intricacies. I would indeed like to pare everything down to inner reality and focus on being not thinking. This makes sense to me and a good word to sorround myself with.
My word I wish to work with for 2011 is
“presence”. The presence I want to be aware of is my own presence to myself and to others be it a peaceful, loving calm, caring or joyful presence and secondly I want to be aware of the ‘others’ presence so that i listen more attentively. And of course taking time to be aware of the Presence that is with me always.
Collen, such depth in that word.
A word which contains within it a seed of invitation to cross a new threshold?
My word is sacrament.
While on retreat in Nov. I picked up Marcrina Wiederkehr’s book, Seven Sacred Pauses. In the chapter on the awakening hour she says, “It is the hour of joy – a little resurrection. Rising from sleep, I raise high the chalice of my life”. The words jumped out at me – “I raise high the chalice of my life” – and it was a “waking moment” – oh yeah, that’s right, I AM sacred, I am a sacred vessel, I am sacrament. I need sacrament and I am sacrament. “I raise high the chalice of my life” has been a wonderful breath prayer that I carry with me – reminding me I am sacrament.
I am sacrament. In the threshold of this new year I am reminded to more fully live into this reality as a beloved one.
Diane–i too am reading this book with our Theresian commnunity–she too has immense wisdom
on the last day of 2010, a word came to me as i was taking pictures along a new portion of the eastern trail. i was walking and enjoying the quiet- only my footsteps created noise as i trudged through the snow.
alongside the trail was a stream partially covered with ice giving way to flowing water. i was photographing it and then it was a joyful knowing that my word is “flowing”.
i pondered “flowing” as i continued on my walk – not sure how to interpert it but knowing that it is mine to work with.
the definitions of flowing ( that spoke directly to me) are:
1.To move or run smoothly with unbroken continuity,
2. To exhibit a smooth or graceful continuity,
3.To rise,
4.The sequence in which operations are performed
the adjectives,provided by the free dictionary online, are: unbroken, fluent, uninteruptted.
alot to work with here-
2010 was a year of endings and beginnings – this is a time to to exhibit “graceful continuity’
the word chose me and i will do my best to honor it
I had so hoped for a word like “nurture” or “restoration” or even “rest” for this year. 2010 was extremely difficult socially, spiritually, financially, emotionally and physically. When the word “INTENTION” bubbled to the surface, I wanted it to go away. But it kept coming up. Eventually, I looked it up, and the fourth meaning caught my attention and confirmed that INTENTION is, indeed, my word for 2011. That definition is “a manner or process for healing of incised wounds”. That, and the other meanings of INTENTION, are things that I look forward to having unfold in 2011.
Yes Tara a very powerful word. Have the INTENTION for healing is an important part of the process. Thankyou for the reminder Colleen
Christine, I shared your suggestion with my older daughters in college and they are pondering. they are in their 20’s and wrestle with the church hiearchy and it’s meaning in their lives. this spiritual practice of the word hopefully opens a path for them into the life giving spirituality of their faith.
What a good idea, Elsa!
Christine, my word is BECOME. Many words spoke to my heart and some were bold and others quieter and this one holds the fullness of all. as my journey this year unfolds I will i will pray for the courage to BECOME what I hear in the depths of my spirit
My word for the year is “kindness.” To begin with kindness toward others and myself rather than to judge.