Share your Word for 2014
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 below by Monday, January 6, 2014 and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below). Last year we had 840 people share!
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 6th!
I am delighted to offer some wonderful gifts from the Abbey:
- 4 people will win a signed copy of Eyes of the Heart: Photography as Christian Contemplative Practice (mailed directly from me in Ireland to you, anywhere in the world)
- 4 people will win a copy of Naked and You Clothed Me: Homilies and Reflections for Cycle A with two reflections by Christine, plus also Richard Rohr, Rob Bell, Jan Richardson, Fr. James Martin, SJ, and many more!
- 4 people will win their choice of self-study online classes from following: Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert: A Self-Study Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen, Soul of a Pilgrim: An Online Art Retreat, Seasons of the Soul, Lectio Divina: The Sacred Art of Reading the World, or Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Contemplative Practice.
So please share your word (and it would be wonderful to include 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 6th I will announce the prize winners!
If this is your first time commenting at the Abbey, or you are including a link, your comment will need to be approved before appearing, which usually takes less than 24 hours.
680 Responses
My word for 2014 is AWAKE. For me it is a reminder to be fully awake and attentive to what is happening in the moment, to try to avoid lingering in the past or projecting into “the not yet future.” Whether I am home alone with my cat, driving my car, in conversation with someone, or participating at Mass or in prayer, I am going to make the effort to be 100% in the present moment.
NOTICE…. I was doing a crossword puzzle and the hint was “notice or pay attention” for the word “heed.” I never knew the true meaning of heed and that word stayed with me for a few days….but then it became clear to me that I like the word NOTICE better….it seems softer to me….there is much to notice as I move through transition
A word keeps popping into my head and that’s SURRENDER. Our lives will become more complicated as a result of my 85 year old mother having a stroke. I think I’ll be challenged to an unpleasant extent. I don’t want her caregiving to become what defines me. And with a strained relationship with her for years, I’m fearful. Surrender to whatever the Lord has for me seems to be a wise first move.
My word is PATIENCE. I thought that after seven years of retirement, I would have learned this lesson….but it still eludes me.
I was surprised when I found my word, the simplest of words: AND. And conjoins all that is. It leaves no one or nothing out. And is community unto itself. A favorite phrase my brother, Bob would say frequently, abrother who died this past July, is “and another thing…” Bob’s another thing was passing to his new existance.
And is the word I will employ when I doubt, when I’m feeling selfish, when I want connection. AND ….
The word which chose me is TIDE. I live by the ocean, and while walking I
watch the ebb and flow of the tides. Sometimes when the wind is blowing from
the land, and the tide is flowing in, there is a great tumult as the two forces
collide. But the TIDE always wins and follows its appointed path. It seemed
a fitting metaphor for our life. Just as the ocean, we are affected by the TIDE – the
great power of God’s Will for us.
The word which chose me was TIDE. I often walk by the seashore and watch the ebb
and flow of the tides. Sometimes when the wind blows from the land, and the tide is
flowing, there is a great tumult, as the two great forces collide. But the nothing can
deflect the TIDE from its path of flowing. It seems a fitting metaphor for our lives,
for – just as the ocean – we are subject to the great power of God’s will for us.
My word is EPIC. The chrysalis is ripe and ready to burst open. The butterfly is ready to spread her wings, dry them off, and fly, fly, fly. Soar! No more holding back on sharing my gifts while squandering possibilities. The view from up here is EPIC. And it’s lovely. Will you join me?
My word is BRIDGING.
(AKA Connecting, in all ways, but particularly for me the Inner to/with the Outer.)
My word for 2014 arose in me just yesterday: FINISH. I’d got up and straight-away (before breakfast or anything) felt compelled to sort out a portion of my yarn stash, including a box containing two unfinished projects. Later in the day, I finished making one of my annual Christmas traditions: boxer shorts for my son (now 28). As the day went on, I realized that 2014 needs to be about FINISHING — what I start, what is currently unfinished. Beyond the obvious and practical, I also believe I’m being drawn to FINISH with the past — not to forget it but to leave it behind me in order to approach the possibilities and plans God has for me in the future with new eyes, new ears, a renewed mind and an open heart. I know I will never be “FINISHED” this side of Heaven, but loose ends can be tied up; peace can be made; forgiveness can be given (and received); and doors can be closed. “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:9)