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
Word for 2015: “voice”
that i grow in my awareness of drawing thoughts into words that i can choose to speak or not, and courage to speak them when I wish.
My word is acceptance. This reminds me that I accept myself for who I am. I am enough
Simply ‘Voice’ to find my Voice this year.
Expansiveness–I am experiencing interconnections in an expansive way that I have never known before.
My “word” is Baby Girl. I worked on Christmas eve and I arrived home shortly after midnight. A helium balloon was in my yard and it said, Baby Girl. I called my friend and asked if she had brought it when she dropped off some CD’s. Her reply was no.
I kept it in the house until it was almost totally deflated. I put it in the garbage can outdoors. The next day, it was back in my yard. This past year was one of feeling stretched and I believe it is G*d’s way of telling me I have grown up, but am still Baby Girl.
The phrase “new beginnings” has chosen me & it really feels appropriate after a year filled with changes, some that I wasn’t really comfortable with or happy about. But life is full of mystery & I am looking forward to what 2015 has in store for me & I enter into it with a heart full of expectation & peace.
Anticipation – I enter this new year with a sense of excitement and relief. A lot of things I’ve done in the past few years in terms of leadership have come to an end. And my latest book is in final stages of completion. I’m free to try new things. I don’t know yet what will emerge on my horizon, but I trust the process of inviting the new into my life. So I am anticipating the arrival of that newness and I’m very excited about it.
My word is glory. I had just asked the Lord to show me my word for this year. As I was driving I was listening to a sermon on the radio. It was about the glory of God. It came to me that that was to be my word. My husbands word is trust. We have big changes coming in our life this year I think we have been given these two words to sustain us. Trusting in the Glory of the Lord.
My word is “embody” . As an artist, I am learning that to do authentic work I need to be present and in my body and allow the creative force to come through me into physical manifestation. I have
Wholehearted. Inspired by a book of Brene Brown’s. I keep getting the same message from people that I don’t even really know. Everything from my posture to some other symptoms indicate I’ve been holding back in life. So here is to WHOLEHEARTED living in 2015!