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
Held …
held without grasping … held without clenching …
Held …
as the branches hold the rays of light
as the water holds the swimmer
as the fire holds our gaze
It seems that the word that has found me is “curiosity.” I’m curious about that.
Here is a playful invitation to be more self-aware as well as attuned to others – a feeling of being “at one” with myself and another being.
WaY…as in artists way, the Celtic way, more highways, Lenny kravitz, way of the child, and irreverently … But with great Joy, “WaaaaY!” As in Wayne’s World.
My word for 2014 is Ground. I have been reading much about the physical act of grounding our bodies to eliminate many physical ailments which are aggravated by inflamation. But it is also about finding a mental and spiritual Ground for myself, a balance place where I can return when I feel knocked out of control by life’s many events. Also thinking of the musical “ground” for base of the scale. Everything in the song is built around it. Many lovely aspects to this word that I’m sure will keep me pondering all year.
Lorette
My word is RESPECT.
My word for this year is “connection”. I’ve spent the last 5 years withdrawn from the world in retreat and introspection. I have seen a lot of spiritual growth in myself and have grown in authenticity and being true to myself, but now it is time for me to reach out to others, to foster connection and community.
The word that has chosen me for this year is “peace.” Last year, the word that chose me was “balance.” As I struggled and juggled to find balance in my life, career and current place of employment, I was led to submit my resignation on Jan. 1, 2014. Now I long to be at peace after having made the move to resign and be “one” with my soul and the world around me. I have no idea where my future path is leading me. I only know that I do not go it alone. And that, brings me peace.
My word for 2014 is river… its flow,eddies,sandbars,stagnant waters,rushing waters-where will the river take me?
Last year was Engage, and this year Transfigure is before me. This reflects an intention to grab hold of the mundane moments of dauly life and fructify them. Not to get ‘busier,’ but to fill ‘dead space’ with something higher and more beautiful.
My word for 2014 is AMMA.
My first grandchild was born this year. My about-to-be daughter-in-law’s mother died last January. My son-in-law’s mother is now on hospice. I am in the position of being ‘mother’ to my children and their spouses. The archetype of mother was one I never claimed for myself – I owned Hetaira and Mediatrix. But I am being called to enflesh this archetype. As a priest, I was first called Mother Sally by a congregation I served just 4 years ago. My spiritual direction practice is called Wisdom’s Way. I think AMMA embodies the sense of mother and the desert mothers and their wisdom. AMMA is a word to grow into, a sense of being for others in the way that God needs me to be.