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
NOURISH is my word for 2014. This word definitely shimmers for me, applying to spirit, mind and body. I long to make time for true nourishment and let go of substitutes.
My word is: home.
My word is home.
Hidden
What is “hidden” will be unleashed!
Joan, i have done a watercolor depicting Isaiah 48:6-7…….it will be unleashed……love it. I thought I had a picture of it file but do not so I sent a sun set. CArol
unfolding like the wings of a bird a bud slowing opening
a human unfolding
After a long period of silence and several walks in the breathtaking, snow covered forest, the wind whispered the word to me – RECEIVE. Receive the moment, the experience in its fullness, the gifts being offered.
The word that chose me is “light.” Last year has been somewhat dark, and I want to move into light again. What amazes me is how quickly and completely I have been enveloped with light…people, poetry, readings, skies, Spirit…all were present during the dark, but it is as if God is saying”Enough with the dark…here is light to fill your soul, your life.” So, no matter what happens this year, I am walking in the light!
Peace is my word for this year
Persistence –
Pressing on toward the prize.
Present -ism.
PRESENCE
….at the outset, thanks so much to Christine and the entire online abbey of the arts community — i just joined recently and i am overwhelmed by the beauty of all that you are… and in this moment, am so grateful for this lectio divina practice of receiving a word for the year…
….i feel the word “presence” calling to me very powerfully, and often reminding me, when i get astray, to just be fully in the moment…bowing…