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
“same”
If we do the same thing frequently even once every day, it becomes habit, then we become stronger and even wiser .
My word is “enjoy.”
Vibrancy
Many words came, but I am returning to the first word that shimmered for me a few weeks ago: Resonate. My prayer is to attune my personal psyche to the Universal Vibration. I want to resonate…resounding the Name of God through my words, deeds and presence.
My word is graciousness. Learning to speak to others with grace. I want to learn how to be supportive and more loving with my words. This is a challenge when I do not understand how things things are done here.
I received my word, “bullitio” (boiling), from the sermons of Meister Eckhart and his teaching on the dynamism of the Trinity. This past summer I had what Eckhart might name as a “breakthrough” and I viscerally knew this bullitio and its paradoxical equanimity. I sought an image for it and chose the low-level geysers one can see at Yellowstone National Park. I don’t see “Old Faithful” that shows itself powerfully and periodically, but instead the little geysers that are always bubbling and occasionally have spurts. I now let that imago be how I observe how I am moving through the day. Do I know “the flow” of bullitio or have I somehow stopped the flow? In the words of Cynthia Bourgeault, one of my teachers in The Living School, “Don’t stop the flow!” So this imago is also now how I pay attention to language of my body.
My word for 2015 is “Rescue”.
My word is JOY….because outwardly, many things are not happy….so despite all my inner resistance, the word that has most definitely chosen me is JOY!!!
Blessings to all who are joining the word pilgrimage this year!!!!
The word “believing” is the word that comes to my mind today. For me, believing, is an action word in the present moment that goes on within each person as they move forward day by day in their life’s journey. It took believing in God for Adam and Eve to pro-create and bring more life upon earth which started a lineage that continues on today with many generations! Noah and his family believed in God’s promise and built the Ark as he was instructed. On through the ages, believing with the faith within has helped individuals achieve the impossible through God’s great love for his children.
One needs to be about “believing” in order to move forward in life with faith, joy, hope, love, and peace. To be able to hold onto believing that the Holy Divine has our best interests at heart and that if we only “just be” in the moment, that the Divine will intercede for ours and others highest good at all time.
My word is “Breath”. The breath of God that sustains me, my own breath that will continue until the end of my life, the breathing rhythms of nature, the breath awareness in praying, singing, moving–these are more than enough to work with for a year!