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
The word that has chosen me is “desire.” May the desires of my heart be in harmony with the divine cosmic heart.
I was led to Christine’s site by a devotional which quoted something she wrote. The Scripture she quoted was one I had never noticed: Song of Songs 3:9-10, and the words she wrote about have stayed with me all week. Christine said, “”Lovingly fitted” speaks to me of taking great time and care to craft something that fits a person just so. How might I craft my days with such joy, attentiveness, reverence, and love for my own abundant gifts? What if each day were a throne, a royal seat, a holy tabernacle?”
This is my word: “lovingly fitted”, and this is my prayer: May I become “lovingly fitted” in the life of Your Holy Spirit in all You lead me through. Abba, may I be aware that You are closer to me than the breath I breathe. You have said I am the apple of Your eye. Enable me to live in this knowledge each day. FHS, amen.
My word for 2015 is “Life” …I have come so you may have life and have it abundantly.
. This morning during my meditation I saw a black sky sparkling with Bright stars. Just now I read Christine’s Love Note and the Gospel reading she references. The reading describes the wise men following a bright star in a black sky.
I had chosen “listen” for my 2015 word but now I feel I must add, “see.”
Choices – prayerfully and thoughtfully choosing to live what I discern is God’s will for my journey in 2015.
I have just started to ponder my word choice & Choices is one possibility!
I choose “Surrender” to guide me through 2015.
My word is “now” . Time for planning and dreaming has arrived at the time to transition to acting. Make time now. Be in the moment. Today is the day.
My Word this year definitely picked me, not the other way around. In fact, I kept pushing it away, telling myself (and it!) that it was too simplistic, too vague, too wishy-washy. And at the same time, too judgy & self-critical. I worked through the Give Me A Word exercises almost impatiently, wanting a different word. A *better* word. But it hung in there like a stray cat at the back door who just out-waits you until you invite it in, and pretty soon it’s drinking all your cream & curled up in your favorite chair and you wonder why you’d ever resisted it. When I finally asked it WHY it had come to me, what it meant, I was astonished at all that unfolded. And far from being critical or nagging, it’s actually a delicious gift reminding me to open up and allow more of it into my life, into all the tight little corners & nooks & crannies of doubt and self-denial. The word: BETTER. Not an admonition to *do* better, but rather a reminder than I am fully worthy of *expecting* better. I fully believe that with its help, 2015 really will be a year of BETTER. Thanks, Christine! Your workshop might not have given me my word directly, but it made me open to accepting it when it did slide past my ankles & make itself at home.
I like how you described your experience of allowing your word to find you!
My word will be TRUST.
I am ready to commit to opening and welcoming Trust into my life once more.
My word is ‘Serenade’… it found me just this morning, and when it did, my heart was filled with gladness. I’ve been considering how I might court, woo and invite a deeper relationship with God, how I might more fully welcome and embrace the things that heal my heart. Because expressing myself musically is how I most comfortably find my voice, ‘Serenade’ feels just right.