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 the year is “generosity”. There is much in this word for me to contemplate, to meditate on, to ponder. Being not only generous to others and all of God’s creation, but also generous to myself. How does that generosity reveal itself in my work, play, family, outreach to others, care of God’s creation, and self-care of my soul, my body, my mind.
Kythe. To make visible or manifest; also an intuitive, compassionate, abiding way of being entirely present to and with others.
An amazing word!
I chose this word because it chose me….had a retreat last week and the facilitator
Ended the retreat with an anointing of each of us with a sacred oil…CHRIST SCENT.. and told us what she had come to see in each of us. NOBILITY was the first of three…which, in my soul, includes the other two: GRACE and ELOQUENCE.
Joy and Peace to all as we journey to Bethlehem…
My word for 2011 is NOBILITY.
My word for this coming year is “Witness”. I have never really liked the phrase “spiritual director”, it seems to indicate that I actually know what I’m doing and can direct people in their spiritual lives. Not really true. But I can and do act as a spiritual witness.
What I suspect is that the word Witness holds a great deal more than what I already know. To develop an internal witness comes from meditation and prayer. To be a Peace Witness is a tremendous act of courage. I can witness in powerful ways that require every ounce of wit I have. So, I look forward to delving deeper into this word. Thank you!
I believe “Patience” is my word for the coming year. I have been cultivating patience for years and I feel it is present more in my life. And yet there are always more layers. This time patience is not about being patient in the present moment to the circumstances that arise, but rather for the path that is unfolding for me that I don’t yet see. It is to patiently trust that the path will continue unfold and that I will be able to find my way on it and that God will set the next stepping stone on the path when God feels I am ready for it. So for now I patiently wait for each next stone……
Last year my word was awareness – and it was amazing what I discovered by paying attention – to what was going on around me, within others and within myself – noticing with my heart as well as my eyes – living with the joys and the pain of what was occuring within others as well as myself. The first word that came out of the blue today was humility or humbleness – and I immediately wanted to resist. So it has been decided, I will examine humility and all of its nuances this coming year. So many opinions out there that differ from my own and make me uncomfortable – some even disturbing my peace to a great extent. Perhaps if I become more humble, I will be able to remain peaceful even in the midst of disturbing polarities.
Service, which in some ways I do very well. In others, I fall so short. Help me remember.
Oh my! Talk about resistance? The word shimmering before me is “unknowing.” I can already tell it’s going to be an interesting year. Bring it on! And thank you, my friend, for another opportunity to grow.
VIBRANCE : look at the world each day as a new beginning! Feel the energies and experience the excitement and sounds of nature with each waking moment. Utilizes all your senses at daybreak and express gratitude!