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
“New” is the word that has rested upon me for this new year. I find myself in transition, leaving behind one way of being and moving into a slightly, but significantly new way. Taking what I have learned and practiced in art and spirituality, and moving in new directions with new, as yet unknown, people and practices is what I anticipate ahead.
I’ve been asking for a word that would create the journey I will be on for 2014 and the word that resonates with me is “Beginnings”. This will be a year full of new beginnings for me as I leave behind many things, things that are no longer serving me and enter into a new journey with endless possibilities.
A word that calls me and yet has given me a challenge is ‘quickening’. I remember the physical feeling of quickening when pregnant with my children. As I allow my soul to become quiet and open I become more physically and emotionally aware of the quickening of life given to me by the Holy Spirit.
My word for the year is “Surrender.” There is a need for a greater surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in my life. Many changes this past year have left me struggling to find my place. I need to “Begin Again.”
My word is ‘self-care’. As I was walking this morning, I realized that this year my duty and goal is to take care of myself if I want to care for those around me — and not becoming a weight.
The word that keeps coming to me for this year is Spaciousness. In looking up the word, it means “ample-larger in extent or capacity than the average. Roominess. It stresses the ability to hold, retain, or retain more than the average.” I’m not sure this is what I am after…I desire at a deep level for space and time to be quiet, to contemplate, and to pray.
I have been working with the word Purpose. This year will be a huge year of change and growth that I’ve been prepared for all during 2013. Just this morning however, two other words jumped off the page to my heart so strongly I can’t ignore them. All three sum up 2014…
Courage-Purpose-Joy
They are outlined now in my journal with scripture, and will be my promise and guide for the coming year.
freedom ~ is the word calling ~ freedom this moment ~ this breath ~ yes!
with deepest gratitude ~
My phrase jumped out at me from the introductory course, on the day of Conversion, when Christine was quoting Benedict’s rule.
It is ‘always we begin again’ . I knew immediately after wondering about another earlier.
This really shimmers for me, a wonderful rule by which to be taught by my Lord. I look forward to finding where it will take me, as for me, conversion had always meant a turning from the world and accepting Christ as Lord, which was a starting point for my journey with a very loving and forgiving God.
On the last day of the retreat at Lia Gard in november, you gave us a word, Christina, that just grasped me, and I have not get rid of it! It was the frase: “Don’t rush, stay with!” It has been working in me, and Rom.15.13 inspired me to write it as a poem:
Stay with
Till morning breaks
After the night
Yesterday is gone
Wait for the Lord
In joy and peace
Till morning breaks
Here and now.
This is beautiful – thank you sharing it.