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
Consistent. I know so much but tend to practice in fits and starts. This year I am doing something every day to stay aware of God in my life
Not one word but a short phrase: let it be.
My word is trust. As I reflect on the past year, it seemed that the best part of it happened when I took risks. Looking ahead to the coming year, I feel called to trust … trust myself, trust in life, trust in taking risks.
Flourish. To me this is growth, and creativity, and joy, and thriving.
Intention. As I prepare for my Camino de Santiago for September-October, my thoughts are centered on my intention for my pilgrimage. Last year my word was Emerging, and that word helped lead me to my intention to walk the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. I ask for God to lead me to the right Intention as I prepare for this endeavor.
I went out on my labyrinth today, just ahead of a winter storm. Asking for “one wild word” I was gifted with three. The one that shimmers most is “Rooted”. This, I believe is my word for 2015. It carries a message of strength, Earthiness, and resilience. I think of home and belonging. It also speaks to me of the ancient roots of my spiritual practices.
“ABIDE” is my word for the new year…this word came to me through scripture (John 15:5) …he who “abides” in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. This word is significant to me as I am new to the practice of contemplative prayer and have set intentions for further study this coming year.
– banked –
It’s an odd sort of word, even odder than my 2014’s “flood.” It claimed me as I was looking into the heart of the fire in our fireplace (itself an unusual event in Austin, TX :) ). I suspect that all “banked”s nuances — conserved, edged, tilted, stored, piled, rebounded — may show up this year, else why would this word choose me?
Sanctuary – that’s my word. To find myself always within the holy, the sacred, the sanctified space that grants me courage, serenity, strength while renewing my faith, my hope, my trust. The place where a Sabbath occurs – when the world reignites with light and love – split second or sundown to sundown – the recognition that there is God/dess granted safety when I embrace the need to recommit.
My word for 2015 is ‘rooted’ – what this means to me is to be so firmly connected to the earth and to the holy that I cannot be toppled. It means to draw up nourishment from the Ground of Being and to dwell in the Living Light. I resolve to become more rooted here at Joy Farm, a place of refuge from a scattered and fragmented culture, a place of beauty, joy and wild hope. And, the echoes of “rooted and grounded in love” resound.