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
Home
I think “home” came to me on day 3 as I lay waiting for sleep.
I made two local moves last year, and my current rental is tentative.
I think I am invited to come home to myself, and to find my home in God; to be at home wherever I am, though I’d prefer security, stability.
Still walking the days of listening for a word, but this seems to be the word that has chosen me, vs. my choosing.
FULEMPTIMENT – This year I will seek “fulemptiment” instead of fulfillment. I will let go, relinquish, be willing to stand empty and not be afraid. I will let go of my pride, my ego, my desires for gratification, and allow my fullness of self, my expectations and anxieties flow out of me. I will savor the space, and wait for God to wander in.
The one concept that continues to fascinate me is “the present”. I work with dementia residents and whether it is spiritual or the mundane they are always in the present moment. It remi9nds me 0of Brother Lawrence and his writings on the Sacrament of the Present Moment. The past is history, the future is mystery all we have is now that is why it is a PRESENT. Our timeless unchanging God works n the present. Who shall I say sent me? Tell the pharaoh it is “I AM”.
My word is “listening” as in a beautiful bronze sculpture I saw called the Listening Sheep. This year will be about listening to what and where I want to focus my energies.
“NEW”. As in “I make all things new”.
Last years word came to me at the end of the year. The word was “INSPIRED.” I was so inspired by so many things. Moody radio, Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina, my Gift of Love CD, and my own daily reading in the Catholic One Year Bible I had picked up at the 1/2 price bookstore nearby, as well as the many online classes I had participated in and books I had read. Everywhere, and everything was a source of INSPIRATION! This years word is PRAYER! Prayer in all it”s different forms. How prayer prays through me and in me and out of me for others and myself. I am so inspired by the magnificence of PRAYER! How it heals, helps, adjusts, affirms, provides wisdom etc. etc. in my life and the lives of others. I am just so inspired by prayer so grateful for the inspiration to PRAY!
I am amazed at reading your post today… such a synchronicity…my word for the New Year is also ESSENCE! It arrived last night without me thinking about it very much, like a waking dream. I have been pondering, “What is essential? What is of the essence?” To simplify, to know what is essential, the inward nature and true substance. To choose wisely, to nourish myself deeply, to find the essence.
The word that chose me is “anchor.” 2013 was a year of chaos and uncertainty, and 2014 calls me to ground myself, center myself, and focus on stability. “Anchor” also confirms that there is something reliable on which to rest.
After a couple of weeks of looking, the word “regenerate” snuck up on me and caught me rather unawares. ‘Regenerate’ both a promise for the future and a call to embrase new growth where the storms of life have battered and broken the old.