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/phrase for the year is FULLY EMBODIED.
Love with your WHOLE BODY….BE LOVE….fully embodied…..
Listening into all that this invites….
My word is “seek”. I find this particularly relavent as I am embarking on the journey to gather information on a personal, academic and professional level. I am seeking how to take better care of myself and how that will manifest. I’m seeking ways to better serve those I lead and I am seeking information and learning for my dcotorate degree. I am always amazed at how seemingly random coincidences coalese into a path for me when I choose to open my eyes, heart and mind to see, listen and heed.
An acrostic poem for “Allow”
As I
Listen for the voice of deep wisdom, I
Let go of all my expectations.
Opening to the movement of the Spirit, I
Wander open handed through the shimmering light.
My word is THRESHOLD. I am walking through doors that demand that I leave the old behind in order to enter the new. I am excited to see what the new year brings to me!!
My word for this year is “establish.” This word follows on the heals of an earlier word that has resonated for me, “manifest.” I am grateful that I am established in my faith and in my journey to be “a monk in the world;” this year, I will persist in seeking to become established in my creative work – mixed-media art and poetry. To do this, I must continue to let go of some involvements and learn how (again and again) to limit my activities to what I believe are my highest priorities. (I PERSIST, another word from an earlier year!)
Thank each of you for sharing your word or words for 2015. Having a community of others who “press on” toward our highest callings is a gift.
My word is Healthy……both to be and to do…..
My word for 2015 is “intention”. My dictionary says “to design for a specific purpose”; “an aim that guides action”; “deliberate”. This word will be my guide as I begin the live my 65th year. I turned 64 last Tuesday the 30th and I heard very clearly the thought “if not now, when”. When is now, today and every day to live the best life I can with a sense of plan and goals and purpose. Too often I have let the winds blow me to hither and yon and that is no longer acceptable. I am a woman of thought and gift and I deserve my very best for me as my very best naturally pores upon those I come in contact with. I need to “let go” in order to hold what is precious. I am so grateful for this group and especially Christine Valters Paintner who had the vision to put this out there in the universe. I pray that God may bless ALL your endeavors this years.
My word for the year – Pause.
Pause: breathing space, hiatus, interlude, respite, hesitate, rest, stillness, to stop briefly, reflect
My word is still… Both to be still and find stillness, and to remember things that are still are in a world full of change.
My word is “integrate”…on so many levels. My personal past and present, my profession and deep calling, the deep gifts of my ancestors with my spiritual path.