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
“Silence” … Learning to rest in it!
Liminality…..that sacred threshold where visible and invisible worlds overlap….the land of the soul.
OOOH! I love this word!!! Blessings on you in 2015 as you dwell in the threshold of possibility!
Although it may seem an obvious choice, my word for 2015 is “Faith.” As I continue my spiritual journey, I sometimes get so caught up in trying to figure things out that I fail to simply trust and believe–I forget to root my journey in faith.
These could have been my words! I’m smiling at your reflection about it being an obvious choice… perhaps all the more the reason to let it be ;-)
My word is ‘work’ – as a gift, an expression of inner love and gifts rather than an interruption to inner life. The Monk Manifesto and Thomas Merton worked together to this point of resonance in me.
From the manifesto ” I commit to bringing myself fully present to the work I do, whether paid or unpaid, holding a heart of gratitude for the ability to express my gifts in the world in meaningful ways.”
Thomas Keating, in The Mystery of Christ – “The fundamental practice for healing the wounds of the false-self system is to fulfill the duties of our job in life. This includes helping people who are counting on us. If prayer gets in the way, there is some misunderstanding. Some devout persons think that if their activities at home or their job get in the way of praying, there is something wrong with their activities. On the contrary, there is something wrong with their prayer.”
*Keating, not Merton :-)
The word that has been implanted in my heart for the coming year is “TREASURE”.
This word came to me by complete surprise – I had been toying with words like open and surrender but the word TREASURE stood out like a neon sign emblazoned in luminous pink letters and I knew it had found me the second I saw it!
Here’s to 2015! May the year unfold beauty-fully!
My word for 2015 jumped forward when I wasn’t thinking about it:
Abandoned
As in, “I want to feel more abandoned” about and in everything: my life, my experiences, my practices, my love, my service, my play, my body, my peace, my expressions, my feelings, my devotion, my co-creation, my thankfulness, my compassion, and my now.
Thank you, and may each of your words shine through brightly and naturally.
Overflow… God is calling me to live into and out of his overflow in my life. There also is an element of my leading from that overflow.
Hermit! Not the word I was looking for; it definitely choose me! Excited to see where it will take me in the coming year :-)
“Attentive” is my word for the year. I desire to be more attentive to my own body, those around me, and the inner pushes and pulls. For me, this means greater attention to my habits of quiet, reflection, examen, journaling, exercise, and so on.