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
The sweet call of this word is shared with you Loveliness
a dear word that begins with Love to look for Loveliness in my every day moments graced with time and light
Blessings of Loveliness to all diane n
I am reminded of Galway Kinnell’s poem “St. Francis and the Sow,” and the line “sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness…”
loveliness
“HARROW”
A gardening tool for breaking clods on ploughed land and for covering seed.
To harrow is to draw a harrow over land or to harrow one’s feelings.
Christ harrowed hell. I wonder what this word means.
I think it may be linked to a deep meaning of being humbled and receiving the mercy of Christ.
My chosen word for the year is DEEPLY.
“As deep calls unto deep . . .”
One of my personal signs/symbols/totem is the Sea Turtle.
For me the Sea Turtle represents deep prayer, swimming/exploring the depths of Papa God’s Love and Grace. Ruah Kodesh (Holy Spirit) brooded over the deep.
I think my word for the year is the word “shimmering”. This word reminds me how God’s voice is still and small, and requires me to be still and listen carefully and be present. I hear an invitation to pay attention to what my heart responds to, and to stop and linger. Now, will I do it? :)
I love this idea! The word that keeps echoing deep within me is TRUST. Trust in God as God leads me through the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. Trust in the community around me that I can be vulnerable and open with them, sharing my weaknesses and learning from those around me. Lastly, trust in myself that I can make decisions that are right for me and that I can be confident in who I am and what I am doing.
Thanks for the beautiful opportunity to reflect!
Before reading your invitation, the words JOY and COMPASSION had come to me as a focus for the foreseeable future, to live what I most want to see for myself, for the world. We need to be easier with each other, more welcoming, accepting, open, loving. Less critical, less hung up about form, the package people come in, more willing to connect with the beautiful essence within. And I in particular, everyone in general, need to spend more time enjoying life as it unfolds itself, rather than striving to make things happen. It’s already magnificent, if I’ll just be still and see.
Re-birth is my word for the year. I feel I am being called to a new way of being.
My word for this year is ZEAL. I am aware of so much creativity in myself, but I often seem to lack the passion and/or energy to tap into it. I promise myself to get in touch with ZEAL this year – opening my heart widely to passion, creativity, enthusiasm – ZEAL!!!!!!
The word haunting me these days is “clarity.” Even as I pay attention to the need for clarity in my life, the persistence of this word remains. No matter the discernment tools I have at my disposal, the clarity remains elusive – or perhaps not yet finished. Thank you for the invitation to contribute!