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 this year came quite clearly: “Homecoming.” Just typing the word stirs an aching and longing in me that I know can only be soothed by deeply coming home to myself, the Holy, Earth, and all of her inhabitants. This is my path for 2014; all of my practices, rituals and readings will create the road for the journey ahead. During my meditation I eagerly and gently seek that holy place within that is my sacred Center, the spark where the Divine and Judith are deeply One, deeply at home. My GPS for this journey is Gratitude, Practice, and Silence/Simplicity.
for much of 2013, i felt i was climbing an uphill battle, so my word for 2014 is… surrender.
For me, what comes up over and over again is “comfort”. The last two months have been very challenging, as I have an elderly mother with several health challenges. Roles have been reversed, and she is very childlike and often looks to me for support and comfort. And sometimes I just don’t know how to do that and struggle with it. Life as I knew it before is permanently changed.
Seeking my word for 2014, looking at many uncertainties and changes ahead, I kept thinking “I don’t know.” I don’t know what will happen with much of anything, with how I’ll handle it, with what it will mean. I don’t know, and I don’t like it, and I’m scared. So what I maybe seek, what I need, is TRUST – trust that I’ll somehow deal with whatever comes, figure out what I have to figure out, trust in the ground under me, trust in the existence of light and love to support and help me, trust that somehow I’ll be, I am, OK. Intellectually I know all this is true, but I need to learn, to allow, to let trust work down deep, in my heart and soul.
Open…Open to release old hurts; Open to accept that I can’t be perfect; Open to help others but still retain boundaries so that I am not drained; Open to looking and reading to try to see the whole picture, not just my small sliver of it; Open so I can hear that still, small voice of God
Pursuit
Grace has been my word for years. By seeking to maintain it, I have learned to navigate through life’s encumbrances seeking balance and fortitude, gratitude and steadfastness, serenity and courage while thrust into chaos or uncertainty.
It is almost always in my consciousness as I navigate through the streets of Manhattan, leg brace and cane slowing me, creating a caution that I need to honor so it doesn’t escalate into fear. By bringing Grace with me wherever I go, I am assured I will always land softly into the secure embrace of my Grantor of Goodness.
I am eagerly anticipating how God will use my word for 2104 – “wholehearted”. Initially the thoughts of this word were full of gusto and joyfulness. While those aspects are still present, God is already showing me the underside of this word, prompting me to search within to see what parts of my heart need to become fully His.
The journey -and discovery therein – are always enlightening!
My word is patience. I am a patient person but I believe I need to be more patient with my husband and with myself. I also need patience with my aging mother. The word just came to me as I settled back to read my first day of find my word. Once I quit the searching for the right word, it just came.
My word for 2014 is “release,” and it seemed to arise from my sense of a movement in my life toward letting go — of my children as they leave home, of certain activities and commitments, of excess possessions, of the desire for control. “Release” speaks to me of liberation and renewal in this process.