Share your Word for 2013
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. The word which chooses us has the potential to transform us.
- What is your word for the year ahead? A word which contains within it a seed of invitation to cross a new threshold in your life?
Share your word in the comments section by Tuesday, January 8th and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below).
A free 12-day online mini-retreat to help your word choose you. . .
This year I am offering all Abbey newsletter subscribers a gift: a free 12-day online mini-retreat with a suggested practice for each day to help your word choose you and to deepen into your word once it has found you.
Sign up here and you can start your mini-retreat today. Once you subscribe you will receive a confirmation email with access to the mini-retreat content (and you are free to unsubscribe at any time). If you are already a subscriber, the invitation will be in this week’s email newsletter.
Win a Prize – Random Drawing Giveaway on January 7th!
Some wonderful friends of the Abbey have offered fabulous prizes to be included in this drawing held from all of the names who participate:
- from Christine Valters Paintner of Abbey of the Arts: a space in the online Lenten retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
- from Kayce Stevens Hughlett of Diamonds in the Soul: a signed copy of her book As I Lay Pondering: Daily Invitations to Live a Transformed Life
- from Dana Reynolds at Sacred Life Arts: a space in her online class The Book of Wonderment and a signed copy of her brand new novel Ink and Honey
- from Ronna Detrick: a space in her online class Soulstice: Develop a Meaningful Spiritual Practice
- from Roy DeLeon of Now Praying: a signed copy of his book Praying with the Body and personalized body prayer for your favorite Psalm
- from Tess Giles of Pilgrim’s Moon: a print of the beautiful banner art by Rima Staines
- from Velma Frye: a copy of her CD “Seven Sacred Pauses” and “Take Heart”
- from Richard Bruxvoort Colligan: a copy of each of his Psalm CDs “Sharing the Road” and “Shout for Joy”
- from Trish Bruxvoort Colligan of River’s Voice: a copy of her CDs “Breath” and “Unfolding”
- from Mary Sharratt: a copy of her novel Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard of Bingen
- from Waverly Fitzgerald of Living in Season: a copy of her French Republican Calendar for 2013 and a copy of her New Year Dreams E-book
- from Betsy McCall of the Art Monastery: an original art print
- from Paula Huston: a copy of her latest book Season of Mystery: 10 Spiritual Practies for Embracing a Happier Second Half of Life
Pretty wonderful, isn’t it? Make sure to check out the links to their websites for all kinds of goodness and thank them for supporting the Abbey!
So please share your word (and a sentence about what it means for you) with us below. Subscribe to the Abbey newsletter for your free gift. Share the love with others and invite them to participate. Then stay tuned – on January 7th I will announce the prize winners!
844 Responses
Transitions. Images of natural transitions – seasons, elevation changes, ecological zones. Transitions from one to the other can be gradual, sudden, unpredictable. Sometimes what thrives in one zone must be left. Reminder to be gentle with myself and let the changes unfold.
My word for 3013 will be CRYSTALLISATION. Since my pilgrimage in Spain, my thoughts have swirled around in my mind. It is time for me to concentrate and focus and allow the thoughts to come together and settle out as gleaming gems, full of colour, truth, peace and revelation.
Initially I was working with the word Way as my dreams seemed to be about finding my way, I am going to walk the Camino this year – the Way of St. James, and in a yoga meditation on January 1st the phrase No Other Way came to me out of imageless Godspace. But the word seemed incomplete. Then I thought about the word Wayfaring and found the American spiritual Wayfaring Stranger was sung by two of my favorite singers, Joan Baez and Emmy Lou Harris. What I did not know was that it is about the soul’s journey through life. When I started to hunt for collage material (I photographed three Wayfaring collages previously shared), I began to see how God makes a way for us. So my word for this year is WAYFARING.
Re-Member
This came to me from a request for a word before sleep. It was reinforced before a labyrinth walk when I read a quote from Jer.6:16 chiseled in a stone slab before the entrance to the walk: “Stand beside the earliest roads,
ask the pathways of old
Which is the Way to good, and walk it;
Thus you will find rest for your souls.”
can’t remember if i’ve put this here yet or not… FRUITION! it terrifies me just a little and makes me giggle… i think that means it’s a keeper!!! xoxo
At last I’m claiming a word I I would never have expected and have been resisting as I played with others that seemed might be asking to be owned. They weren’t. My word for 2013 is WILD.
INFINITE: That is the word that gave itself to me. Funny how in awaiting a gift my expectation is for something small, humble, manageable. How can I embrace this huge and generous word? Maybe God knows my tendency to pull my petals inward in self-protection, to sift all the possibilities through my screen of self-imposed limitations. Here I go, trusting in new ways, standing open-armed beneath the night sky ready to be gifted limitlessly with enough stardust to make each day sparkle in unexpected ways.
The word I have been pondering is remedy. It derives from the Latin remediun which means to heal. I am fascinated by the application of ” remedy” to not only disease, but to evil. It refers to medicine as well as law! Blessings to all in the New Year.
My word for 2013 is “NOW!”
As someone who is often involved in planning future events or pondering what is to come, this word is a clarion call to live in the present, to make the most of all that is available and gifted to me – right NOW!
I wish to be always aware of the love and grace surrounding each moment, the miracle of life, and the presence of the divine all around.
My word is Illuminating.
Images to paint appear to me and I illuminate what my mind sees.