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 is beauty. Discovering it, uncovering it, learning it, doing it.
Enchant!
To be open to the many ways in which the Beloved enchants me and draws me near…
Enough. What does it mean. How much is enough when am I enough. When can I say I have done enough. How can I realize the abundance of enough Where is there not enough. …….
Allow
Over the last week or so that word has popped out at me in many different contexts, but all appropriate to the growth I want to make.
My word for this year is “wholehearted.”
After a few years long depression, this is the cry of my heart – that by grace, I might be made whole and well, and live a life that flows from my whole heart – and a whole heart.
“Commitment”. That is my word. It almost brought me to my knees when I realized how half hearted I have been in many of my endeavours. I didn’t know that, before the word hit me. It has been an opening into my way of being. I don’t know how important this will be in my life – but I think it could change everything.
My word is “radiate.”. I thought about happiness, peace, joy, quiet, excellence … All the usual contenders. It came to me a few days ago that what I really want is to RADIATE all of these. I want to be infused with them, exemplify them and RADIATE them. I want to radiate happiness so that it fills the space around me.
Yes, radiate.
My word for 2014: WILL. I heard the word when I was half awake/asleep on New Year’s morning. Then I saw it again in the following quote (I wrote down the quote but I forgot where I read it, sorry): “to love someone is to WILL their good.”
Enchantment
Claiming the magical and mystical in everyday life. Flipside: awareness of Gordon of the mundane and a reliance on knowing, proving and science.
My word for 2014 is Branch. To reach heavenward and feel the wind against my skin. To acknowledge my roots in the deep earth and in the Spirit of God. To grow towards new possibilities this year that at times seem overwhelming. To remember to sway when a stiff breeze blows. To let go that which is too heavy to bear.