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!
If this is your first time commenting at the Abbey, or you are including a link, your comment will need to be approved before appearing, which usually takes less than 24 hours.
804 Responses
My word is a new one for me… been dancing in my head
Tarantism.. Over coming melancholy by Dancing. the Uncontrollable urge to dance.
God is calling me to dance thru Life. I accept the challenge
I love your word! Some time ago, I had an unforgettable dream about dancing, and since then dancing has, well, danced into my life in significant ways. I am going to add Tarantism to my consideration of what dancing in life is about! Thank you!
I had all kinds of drama over choosing a word for the year, but I finally realized what was staring me in the face. Story. Whether I’m a reader or a writer or a listener or a minister or a social worker or a helper or a creator, if I follow story wherever it leads me, I can’t go wrong this year.
My word is “TRUST”. I have been a Christ follower for many years and yet I know that He continues to call me to a deeper trust as His disciple, follower and friend. There is much in our world to distract us from such trust, but these things may indeed prove to be the springboard for a fuller, deeper and more meaningful trust of the Lord Jesus.
HEAL – Emotionally and Physically
Curiously enough, my word for next year is “curious.”
I tried to make it be “abide,” which has been my centering prayer word for quiet a while. But nope– it just didn’t take.
So why curious? Because it implies a willingness to be surprised, delighted, stricken, and all sorts of other reactions–by some hitherto undiscovered (by me) truth within me or outside me. Curious is energetic, optimistic, non-self-centered. All qualities that I haven’t been for a long time.
Today I practiced being curious. I’m going to learn a lot this year!
Thanks, Christine, for this wonderful yearly exercise.
Wait…
I can feel transformation in the near future, but unsure what this transformation is. So, I need to wait before making major decisions.
My word is reconciliation. There are so many areas of my life that are causing me to feel unbalanced. I want to reconcile what is inside with what is outside, relationships within my own family with my church family, my art and faith, my ideas and the expression of those ideas, my expectations and my goals. The list goes on but I am happy to have a focus for the year to remind me that the reconciliation that I have with God needs to be reflected in all of my life.
My word has been so slow to come this year! But I believe it is “ripen”– balancing my hope for resolution in a long slow discernment process with trust that it is in God’s hands, can’t be rushed, and is proceeding in harmony with creation.
My word for 2015 is “truth and beauty have kissed each other.” I hope to breathe in this word and release its fruit as I work on a contemplative photography book.