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
My word for 2015 is PERMEATION. It’s a word that popped into my mind unbidden one day when I was pondering God’s love. Of course it is related to “permeate,” a word I know and like, so I didn’t think much more about it. Several days later I just HAD to look it up. Wikipedia says in physics and engineering permeation is the penetration of a liquid, gas, or vapor through a solid. Ah! God’s love permeates and penetrates all things, even solid things! Sometimes I am quite solid and my heart is like a stone. And God’s love permeates my heart of stone and transforms it to a heart of flesh. And Love permeates ALL things, all of creation–the organic and the inorganic. Permeation for 2015 and forever.
My word is truth-telling. I don’t lie, but I am silent in front of controlling or adversarial people. The silence has trapped me in my relationships and the depression is suffocating. Today I told a difficult truth. I need to say each day: today I told the truth out loud.
My word is truth-telling. I don’t lie, but I am silent in front of controlling or adversarial people. The silence has trapped me in my relationships and the depression is suffocating. Today I told a difficult truth. I need to say each day: today I told the truth out loud.
TRUST IS THE WORD THAT CHOOSE ME. We will be moving our family home which our five grown love as we have always enjoyed our family celebrations in. We are downsizing nd we all feel some what sad about the move. God has been trust worthy over the years in my life I surrender yet another life change in our lives and I know we will be well taken care of by The Devine Source.
my word for 2015 is Dancing with my losses
I have a whole list of losses and some significant ones were letting
go of my Chaplain certification and some significant loss of sight in
one of my eyes plus being with a Sister friend in later stages of Alzheimers.
It’s all hitting some reality of aging spots in my innermost being.
My word is listening – I can listen with my heart to how God is calling me – I can listen to the silence for the messages of God – I can listen with intensity to those who come into my life to hear their stories – to hear God speaking through their stories – I can listen to the pain, the joy, the excitement of my grandchildren, my husband, my family. Listening is not always easy as I get my agenda in the way – it takes concentration and letting go to listen with the heart – to listen to the wind – to listen to the sounds of nature among the cacophony of noise – to listen rather than to speak – to listen to the Word, as in Scripture – to listen to the rhythms of the day – to listen for the ordinariness of each day- to listen with awareness. Listening is one of the first gifts of relationship – to hear the other. Listening requires patience and humility – may my ability to listen with greater intensity become a means to become a more spiritual individual.
My word for 2015 is OPEN. Open to how God can work through me, Open to how I can give time to myself, kindness and love to myself, Open to being at ease with uncomfortableness, and more Open to others.
My word is compassion. It is something I feel strongly but have trouble expressing when I need to the most. This is my year to actively practice and use it in the spaces in my life that I need it the most. With compassion comes grace.
Gratitude. Focus every day on on the abundance that I have. It is so easy to get stuck on the negative, but I want to turn around the negatives and the feelings of lack and focus instead on the many positives I have experienced.
My word is INTIMACY. I see myself growing in intimacy with myself, God and others and putting myself in places where I can do so. This is a priority! Thank you so much Christine.