Share your Word for 2015
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 Tuesday, January 6, 2015 and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below).
A free 12-day online mini-retreat to help your word choose you. . .
As in past years, 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. Even if you participated last year, you are more than welcome to register again.
Sign up here and you can start your mini-retreat today. Once you subscribe you will receive the first email within an hour and then one email each day for 12 days. Your information will never be shared or sold.
Win a Prize – Random Drawing Giveaway on January 6th!
I am delighted to offer some wonderful gifts from the Abbey and friends and supporters of the Abbey’s work:
- One space in the upcoming online Abbey retreat Illuminating the Way: Epiphany and New Year Retreat with Monks, Mystics, & Archetypes (a fabulous way to begin the year!)
- A copy of Dana Reynolds‘ fabulous gold medal winning novel Ink and Honey
- A 6-week self study course from Dana Reynolds: Your Sacred Life Artisan’s Book of Wonderment
- A New Year Sacred Reading from the Ronna Detrick (let a woman from scripture accompany you into the new year!)
- A copy Betsey Beckman’s fabulous dance of The Creation on DVD (be inspired to dance into the new year)
- A copy of As I Lay Pondering from Kayce Hughlett (a wonderful book of daily reflections to accompany you into the new year)
- A 2015 calendar from Stacy Wills featuring her alcohol ink paintings (be blessed with Stacy’s stunning images each month)
- A copy of Richard Bruxvoort Colligan’s new album Love Stands With, with songs based on justice-oriented Psalms (be moved by powerful music to inspire your heart to prophetic action in the coming year)
- 4 people will win a copy of Sick and You Cared for Me: Homilies and Reflections for Cycle B with one reflection by Christine, plus also Richard Rohr, Rob Bell, Jan Richardson, and many more!
- 4 people will win their choice of self-study online classes from the 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 to receive ongoing inspiration in your in-box. 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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804 Responses
My word is bask.
To bask myself in all I have been given….
intention ~ the healing process of a wound
my word took its sweet time coming to me. or so i thought. it came at exactly the perfect moment. hmmm.
My word is “let go and live!”
My word is curtain.
One night recently I dreamed of a blue curtain opening, and I skated out alone onto the ice. The next night I dreamed of a closed red curtain. I was sitting before it on a stage with an audience behind me. I was stitching sacred symbol on it.
My word is Stewardship. It’s not a word I would have chosen, but is the culmination of my desire to actively and consciously manage my resources – both energetic and physical – in a way that is empowering. I am curious about what it holds for me.
My word for 2015 is essential. I am going to practice essential silence, essential spending, and essential service. I am going to be open to see how the essential unfolds in my life and actions over the next 12 months, and be willing to begin again, again!
My word for this new year is- awakening.
Slow down. This word is an anchor for 2015 that will keep me tethered to the Trinity when I behave like there is not enough time, everything is up to me, or when I get wrapped up in too many projects to stay centered. Slow down will be my breath prayer, my mantra, and I believe the path to greater health and wholeness!!
2015 is going to be JUICY. Full of nourishment that feeds body, mind and soul. I have decided to no longer hide my art in books and in closets. I declare 2015 a year of Juicy Delicious ART~~
The word that found me in the quiet is “FLOW”.
At first, I resisted its call — which is appropriate I think for a word that finds me resisting its call to let go and surrender my resistance!