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 inspiration. Inspiration will guide me in all that I am called to do and to bring forth in the coming year.
Mastery.
My word for 2015 is LIBERATION. I am called to let go of things that I have allowed to weigh me down. I am called to cast aside chains of bondage knowing I have choices and freedom to BE.
My word is surrender. I feel this word shimmers for me, because it can lead to trust, faith, peace, and rest.
This is the time of year when my word comes full circle, and I listen for what is ahead. I’ve been “testing” this one out now for a couple of weeks, and it keeps chasing me down, sure sign that it is the one. So for 2015, I have been chosen by WONDER. Verb and noun, there is much here inviting me to expand and grow.
My word for 2015 is “possibilities”. My pilgrimage over the last 4 years, after my husband’s deaths, has led me through the tomb time of grief–into the wilderness–into the winter of rebirthing–and now into whatever my new life brings. The Abbey of the Arts has been an important part of the journey. Thank you Christine for the inspirational emails, the online retreats, and the gathering of dancing monks.
My word for 2015, I believe, is “build.” I seem to be invited to continue to build–but to build in the Spirit’s way, not man’s way. I know this will be the key: the Spirit’s way. I hope and pray I follow well.
Power. My word for 2015 is power. A mantra and prayer that has helped me uncover/recover my deepest self for many years has been “may my deep self voice her power.”
This is an ongoing journey and an ongoing struggle, because my impulse has always been to shrink, to hide, to smooth things over and to disappear. I want to grow into my strength this year and to recognize that power can be power with rather than power over, and that tapping into my power can be a tool to empower others. I want to recover faith in my own goodness, my own needs and my own capacity to co-create a world I want to live in.
My word is “surrender”. I am trying to live with radical acceptance and to let life unfold , staying present in each day and letting of go of my habituated fear-based reaction to attempt to control outcomes and avoid painful change.
My word/phrase for 2015 is “Deep rest; discovery.” I have recently retired and am finding my new ground, accepting non-productivity and intentional slowness. At first I imagined that I would have big energy after a week of rest, now it looks like maybe a year or more of rest and grounding is that to which I am being called. I say, “Yes!”