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
The word that chose me was peace…twice! This was a surprise to me, I wanted “connection” but I trust the wisdom of the process. Peace is working its way into my awareness with little synchronicities, visitations, and my own commitment to it. It is my new polestar.
Play! This year is centered on play. Playing music, playing with paints, bringing play into my work and my marriage and my faith! It’s been a pretty serious life so far, and it’s time to let my shadows dance with the light! Thank you!! I continue to be in awe of the beauty in this community!!
The image I took to accompany my ONE WORD x
TRUST
Trust in God’s provision – financially
Trust that God will help me do a photo a day again.
Trust that God will help me navigate my days and help me to live well.
Trust that God will help me find the right amount of work that will be right for me mentally, physically, financially, spiritually.
Trust that God will lead me forward to explore spiritual accompaniment.
Trust that God will not let me stray too far from him.
Trust x
Heart–This word continues to choose me, and I it, for a few years now. I carry it in my pill box which I open daily and am so reminded of its meaning, its guidance, its softness. Heart goes beyond my physical organ, and permeates all that I am and more.
MOVE! My dear hubby and I have been in a holding pattern for more than a year now… The car is moving, but we are sitting in it. We need to physically move so we can get out of the car and move our belongings to a new home, yes, but we need to move our bodies to stay active and vital. When we grow weary, we have a tendency to sit and talk (and too often, argue),but we need to move, to keep making progress. Physically moving my body in dance and exercise helps to calm my anxieties as I wait for others to make decisions and take action. We have been talking about it for far too long! It’s time to MOVE!
And I just came
I just came across this passage… Acts 17:28
‘For in him we live and MOVE and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
I had difficulty choosing my word, or rather, having my word choose me. My word finally appeared and it is: “miracle.” Most of us think of a miracle as an event that takes place immediately, a one -time deal. A miracle is a process, you are touched by grace, and the journey toward becoming whole begins . It can take a lifetime. Long ago, something beyond myself lifted me out of the darkness and I have been dancing ever since.
LISTEN
Be still and listen for God’s voice that dwells within. Listen for what my physical body has to tell me it wants/needs from me (more rest, more play, etc.). Listen to my intuition, my spirit, as I discern next steps in my life.
My word is nurture, nurture for myself and for others.
The word that chose me is “Courage.” I’d had another word in mind, but as I prayed with it, God took me to deeper and deeper words underneath the original. Courage leads me back to them: to “trust” completely in God for whatever this year holds, and to thereby “thrive” in the grace and joy that comes in living into God. It’s likely to be a year of big changes, and I want to move into them grounded and centered in God.