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
I thought my word might be ‘One’ as in the one thing necessary and then it came as “wait’.
I ‘ve just met Lectio Divina and always want to rush in, anxious I won’t find the one word
And am learning to trust and wait for it to be given. The wise travellers who followed the star waited a long time on their journey, it’s the season of Simeon and Anna and their lifetime of waiting and watching and worshipping and
Keeping on keeping on
It’s about real life and not giving up hope .
One word
Wait
Wait for the Lord
Hope is the ability to wait
No need to rush in
Watch and wait
Silence as letting go and waiting
Waiting
And being surprised
By a sunset in a hospital window
In the midst of a story of pain
But wait
And it will be given to you
Wait
Be still
For
A word
A surprise
An invitation
For forgiveness
And forgiving
For
The unexpected
Jesus in the stranger
For finding the beauty
To give in brokenness
Wait for
I don’t know what
But
For this moment
For this day
Wait
For the one thing necessary
Wait.
My word is CALL.
Call to action, fearlessness, surrender, growth, acceptance, love…is that still one word???
Here is an initial reflection (with some photos) of my word.
http://theedgeishere.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/2015-word/
This year my word is PARTY.
I am very excited by this. Looking back on 2014 when my word was Metanoia I think that I changed a lot during the year. The new me is excited to see what is in store for 2015.
Light. I am being led to light in my life. How can I radiate what is in my soul?
My word is flame. I was thinking of it in terms of artistic flame, of carrying the flame of creativity within me. But then the image of candle flame came to me and this villanelle emerged:
Prayer
Today how many candles must I light?
How many snowflakes in the wind’s fierce fist?
How many upturned faces in the night?
Can suffering be soothed by such a rite?
Will anyone answer this flaming list?
Today how many candles must I light?
How can I doze through the sleepless plight
of widow, refugee, and terrorist–
so many upturned faces in the night?
How many stars flicker beyond our sight?
How many tears are falling through the mist?
Tonight how many candles must I light?
Can burning candles any hope ignite?
Will God descend as though to keep a tryst
with all our upturned faces in the night?
How much grace can one shaking hand invite?
How much radiance one act enlist?
Today how many candles must I light?
How many upturned faces in the night?
at-one-ment
looking forward to the unfolding of the experiences of this intriguing “word” during this year…
DANCE! Every day, through life.
MOVE is my word….both my body and my household. We are beginning the bittersweet work of letting our beloved house go (putting it on the market). I hope to hold on to the “home” we’ve created in this place for over 15 years. And, I love how my body feels when I move…. I want to be more present to the joys of moving in my walking, gardening, kayaking, dancing, yoga…..
This year I look forward to embracing the goodness that comes when I MOVE.
My word is Love. Love God, Love Self, Love others