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 hope has chosen me for this next year. The Lord has shown me how I have put on a heavy cloak of self protection, and it is time to come off. I have been afraid to hope, always guarding myself. I am looking forward with a smile and knocking knees!
My word is discernment. Lots to ponder on with that one word.
Waiting: waiting for healing, waiting for next steps in life’s work (possibly), waiting for new relationships after divorces, waiting for a deeper experience of God.
The word that has chosen me for 2014 is Resilient…..
Sparkling
Gestation
STRETCH – will be my word for 2014.
Too often I don’t occupy the space that is given to me. In the course of my life, I seem to have become an expert in contracting, in becoming small, invisible, a fly on the wall.
The word STRETCH reminds me to not only stretch physically, but also mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
It already feels like a promise to live the new year with curiosity and new adventures.
Entwined
become a butterfly & dolphin
I will put these down for now and continue with your 12 day retreat, but am feeling a sense of motion… following the butterfly in dance across the threshold of eternity.
The dolphin motion in scattering my twin’s ashes in the ocean on our birthday in February…another threshold into the deeps
My word for the year is “wisdom.”
My word for the year is “mother.”