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 for this year is ‘intimacy’. This year my word was spaciousness. Psalm 18:19 – He brought me into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delights in me. I feel I have been in this place, a place of freedom and exploration , but also of security and love. For several months the word intimacy has been coming up and I think this should be my word for the year. I feel a little vulnerable and unsure what this will mean throughout the year, but alo full of expectation and anticipation.
My word last year was integrity – in fact it lasted two years, which is probably needed for such a word. This year my Spiritual Director told me to ask for a word from the child in the crib. The word was ‘expectation’ – it’s an uncomfortable word for me, linked to criticism but since spending time with it also links to the need to trust. Being uncomfortble is a journey of it’s own so I will see where this leads me.
every blessing for the year ahead.
Feisty. On New Years morning, driving to town, pondering 2011, I heard the word feisty. Feisty is unexpected, so I’m curious. However, reading the definition of feisty, I became dismayed, a little. Yet, I asked for direction, feisty showed up, and it is evocative since it’s not a word I’d normally use to describe myself. During this untangling time of my life, I’m listening.
My word for this year is Expectation. Expectation can be defined as the act or state of looking forward or anticipating. I stumbled upon the concept of working “expectation” into my thoughts and conversation (both in my mind, and outwardly whenever possible) at every opportunity. As I have played with it, I’ve discovered a very pleasant and positive shift in my attitudes and outlook.
I’ve spent a lot of time in recent years looking at the Law of Attraction and attempting to use the power of intention, but with limited results, and often a struggle to really believe it. “Expectation” seems so much easier to believe in and definitely easier to remember.
Instead of thinking or saying, I “intend” this, or I “wish” that, or even I “believe”, I am substituting “I expect” or “I am expecting”…
I expect to have a beautiful day, I expect to move with flexibility and ease, I expect my life to be good, I’m expecting my creativity to blossom, I expect to have a safe and pleasant drive, I expect to have fun, I expect to be healthy, I expect to find the answers I need, I expect abundance, I expect this food to strengthen and nourish me, I expect to remain calm and peaceful, I expect to have more than enough time and energy to do everything I want to do, and so on…
EXPECTATION is giving me a delicious sense of anticipating a New Year full of promise and wonderful blessings.
Hallo Christine, my word for 2011 is Courage. There was no doubt about this but I kept thinking that something else needed to be there as well. Then it came – Heart Open. So Courage and Heart Open it is.
The image of the masculine and feminine comes very strongly to me as I think of my words, and I realise that I have been leading up to this integration for some time. I am looking forward to seeing where it takes me in 2011.
Happy New Year to all.
Heather
refine and expand – they insist on going together :) xoxoxo
My word for 2011 is “wait” as in Psalm 27:14–wait expectantly, with patience, in eager anticipation for the Lord.
Wait and patience not my favorite words…
My word for 2011 is “compassion”, I wrestled with this for several days thinking surely this can not be the word Lord, I am a compassionate person, but as I held it lightly I believe there is still work to be done…..
I’ve been sitting with your question for a word for a while now. Usually one word unfolds clearly during January. These words are not always welcomed at first but each has had much to teach me. This year my word is ‘pilgrimage’. The strongest part of this word now is the prospect of both the steadiness called for and walking in uncertainty. 2011 will be a year of pilgrimage, pared down for light travel and attuned to the process of attentive movement. Blessings for each one on the year ahead, margi
Hi Christine–
Happy New Year!
Nice to visit your blog again.
May I add a word to your wordle this year?
I choose the word “LEAP”. Its definitely how I feel at this time in my life. And how appropriate going into the Year of the Rabbit!
Hugs,
Bette.