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!
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680 Responses
Reconciliation
It speaks of
– humanity, identity, dignity.
– home or sacred, safe place, where we take our shoes off
– honesty, having a passion for truth
– hospitality, benedictine – a welcoming presence
– humility, modesty, listening to others
– hope, a healing heart
Hmmm!
I wasn’t sure i would find a word or the word would find me. I was doing some last minute Christmas shopping before going to my parents’ house. There were these wonderful statues made of recycled metal which were so different and colorful and creative. I wanted to give my parents something they could put in their back yard that would cheer them up when they were eating at their table (which looks outside their back yard). There was a yellow and black bee with a smiley face that was so cheery (my Mom’s favorite color is yellow) that I had to get it. As I was driving to their house with the bee in my back seat, it just struck me…bee…be…be…be. My word was be. I need to just be in the world. Let myself be. Whatever life brings me in 2014, just be.
Feel
Fearlessly,
Every
Emotion,
Let it out, into the light, look at it, live it and let it go.
This is my second year of participation in this retreat. I can’t even begin to tell you how much it helped me through this past year. 2013 was my year to HEAL. 2014 is my year to FEEL. I am filled with passionate emotion but very often have a difficult time identifying what the emotion is. I committ to feeling the feelings this year!
The word which has chosen me is PRESENCE. Last year my word was attention and in my search this week for a new focus I thought about tuning into the PRESENT but the word PRESENCE kept coming to me. It is a holy word. It has an interesting homonym in presents . Thank you for challenging me to continue to grow.
“Flourish” is my new word. I began this practice a couple of years ago with “spaciousness” and perhaps a year later followed with “yes”. I flirted with “chutzpah” for a little while when “yes” needed some extra encouragement. I wasn’t even looking for a new word when “flourish” found me a few weeks ago. But it came as I realized that the inward growth I’ve been experiencing, now wants and needs to continue to expand obviously and unashamedly in ever more outward directions. To flourish, in other words!
The word that popped out into my consciousness was “hope”. Every time I think it, my whole being breathes a sigh of relief and responds “yes!”.
Thanks for the invitation. It has offered me a way forward into 2014 of expectation and energy.
The word for 2014 that was raised up in me is “Compassion.” A conversation with the soul of my father revealed how compassionate he was. He truly lived out Matthew 25: 31-45 and showed love and mercy to “the least of these, my children.” In a recent encounter with a street person I found myself feeling I should have shown more compassion than I did. I also am very hard on myself so, my word for 2014 is both an inner and outer compassion.
Smiling warmly your way, Edna Marie . . .
For whatever it’s worth, it’s been really helpful for me to find a book traveling companion to help support me in my journey with that year’s word. My word for 2012 was Mercy because of some reading I had done in “Unattended Sorrows” by Stephen Levine.
Thing of it is, there aren’t many books out there on Mercy. So much so that I even wondered about changing my word to her close sister, Compassion. But. Each time I tried that on, it didn’t feel right (speaking only for myself here, friend). So, I did the next best thing, Mercy and I borrowed wisdom from Compassion. All that to say that my favorite book on Mercy/Compassion is “The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion.”
I really debated on whether to share all of this with you or not, but when you used the word Mercy and then also shared that you are hard on yourself (me, too!), it felt right. I will trust you to take what you like and leave the rest with me . . .
Wishing you well in your journey with Compassion next year.
Wholeheartedness. I’ve always been a person of the mind, and it’s taken me awhile to learn that the heart is my seat, not my head. Plunging in with wholeheartedness can be a little scary for me; it is not cool, but hot and that sometimes takes me aback. So jumping off the cliff this year, remembering each time that I jump – to trust, to love completely.
My word is open–open hands, open heart, open mind–open to new experiences, opportunities, possibilities–open to what the universe brings.
My word for 2014 is: treasure
It came to me when reading Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
I will contemplate and consider what is treasure and how to treasure. I will think about who, what, and where my treasures are. And I will think on the when, why, and how I treasure them. Lots of pondering to do!