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 this exciting new year of 2014 is LUSTER. As I drove home to Eagle Rive, Alaska after mass today the mountains had such a glow and shine to them that I felt they could just continue to glow through the long winter’s night. ” A Luster of midday to objects below”, as is written in the poem “The NIght Before Christmas”. As this is the time of Russian Christmas and Epiphany, I thought it appropriate for how I was feeling.
Blessings,
Maureen
Today, as part of Epiphany celebration, our congregation received ‘star words’ during the sermon to live with through the year. The word I received was ‘Serenity’. Just recently I had been feeling drawn to pray Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer. So glad for this word!
My word is ” Fluidity”…. hoping it will allow me to be fluid in my thinking , feelings , actions . To be able to go with the flow of life mid stream , side stream, deep stream , shallow stream , fast flow , or slow flowing ….whatever ,… always knowing that I am part of the great river of Life and on course ….
GREEN is my word. I want to be guided into what greens me in work, marriage and choices for time. I want to rest in the greening work of God.
Wind.
My word is “openness”. I’m letting go of a major leadership role
and using this year to open to Spirit, to the delights of every day,
to relationships, and to new adventures. I will have more time for
all of those wondrous things.
As I sat in the pew this morning responding to the hearing of the words of John’s Gospel–“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”, and to the experience of receiving Communion, the word ‘accessible’ came to me. I wish to be accessible to others in the way that God became accessible through the Incarnation and the sacrament of Communion. As an introvert I am much more comfortable in solitude, but this year I will focus on the practice of reaching out, connecting and becoming accessible to others as Jesus did.
Courage
My word is “Create” ~ it found me as I was exploring a new App “Sketch Club.” I know that creativity is vital to my well-being whether that is creating worship space or creating and be led by the Creator my life.
Awaken/Awake is my word for this year. I believe it grounds me, sets me free, calls me to be mindful of what the moments of my life offer.