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
My word for 2014 is to “re-imagine” my work, my path, me sense of self.
My word is pacing, and I think it is coming to me for a number of reasons, probably for me to look at the rhythm of my life, how I might better pace out my days, what I do to allow more time for self… And also I have been doing a lot of pacing you might say, back and forth, between making a decision and not making it, and I think I have to seriously look at that, and ask myself why I am finding it difficult to make this decision! what is holding me back? I think until I can answer that I will continue to find myself wanting to make this decision but not able to???so we shall see what 2014 brings as I consider the word! Pacing.
I’m shaken, but I’m well. What has me shaken is stuff that shakes people, is typical to being alive, and is common to humanity.
My word for 2014 is “common” . May I learn more and more how much I have in common with everyone else . . . including uniqueness.
INCARNATION….. to live my life, in all my imperfect human-ness, as a manifestation of the Divine
My word is Acceptance. God has been working with me on accepting certain things in my life that I cannot change. Each day I want to be open to acceptance; I am excited to see what my journal will hold.
Thank you so much.
Kathleen
Presence. I found myself practicing Visio Divina with a beautiful figurine of Jesus (given to me by my mother-in-law) with his right arm open and his left hand pointing at his open heart. I felt him inviting me to be present fully in that moment.
My word for 2014 is GRACE-PACE. Okay, technically two words, but they are holding hands.
GRACE as an invitation to explore each day, challenge, encounter with a lens of grace. Grace to me is the weaving together of love, compassion & forgiveness. It is love in action, moving through all that could snag my attention and distract me in the wrong direction.
I am asking that grace holds hands with PACE in the new year, as 2013 has taught me that grace is more accessible when I have been paying careful attention to pace. I started 2013 on sabbatical, with The Artist’s Rule, as my creative & contemplative companion. Being deeply nourished by moving at my own pace to start the year, allowed me to be generous with my attention to work and family during the final nine months of the year.
As this new year begins, I have completed huge essential work at home and work. I welcome grace and pace to weave together each day. I welcome seeing the ways in which this partnership can support the whole and the holy all year long.
Holly
My word is joy. It seized me during a time of spiritual reading and centering prayer. I was feeling a variety of emotion which confirmed that that would be my word. I realized that I needed to spend time with that word to find its meaning for me. It continues to pop out in my readings. So “joy” is my word.
Divine contentment means to rest peacefully in the heart and arms of the Beloved
My word is Divine contentment