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
“trust”
I don’t usually choose “words for the year” and indeed have not done so for the past few years However, this year seems to be different. The word “trust” kept appearing and reappearing to me during the past few weeks and I came to realize that “trust” has chosen me for the year!
Acceptance is my word. Learning to accept and see the Christ in me.
My word for 2015 is “Seek.” And this year, I am connecting this word with a Scripture text: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you too. Matthew 6:33. During this year, I want to seek out more opportunities to live fully in the moment, of course, but also to live according to my faith. As I continue to build a new life as an empty-nest mom, a college English instructor, and a photographer (with a very small business on the side), I want to seek opportunities to grow in these areas, to discover new things, and learn a few things along the way.
The last time I chose a word for the year (2013), it was DREAM. This year, it is clear to me that this is the year of WORK. Most people squint sideways when I tell them that… what a dry and boring choice…but the truth of it is is that, as the adage goes, “dreams don’t work unless you do.” I feel the universe making space for the work of my hands and heart. This will be the year to dig in deep, to pour my heart into what I bring to the world.
Thank you always for the light this place brings. <3
“Embrace”
After several weeks of reflecting on changes this year, looking for ways to internalize acceptance of what I cannot change, and gaining courage to express my thoughts to change what I can, I had this word suddenly emerge. This next year will continue to be full of changes, and I want to focus on all the good that is, the good that is happening, and contribute to the good that will emerge. I think I can do this best by embracing others, their gifts and frailties, but most especially by embracing my own frailties and acknowledging my own unique contributions to the good.
After reflection, I wish to submit and live the word ‘SANCTIFY’ for this coming year. It is a word of action, of bringing dignity and hope to oneself and to all Being within our Creation. I see this word in the hopes of Pope Francis, of my Seraphic father St. Francis, in my Celtic roots, in all the hopes of all faiths and peoples, that we ‘Sanctify’ all of earth and especially treat each other with the highest form of reverence. To live in a world which is ‘sanctified’ will demonstrate God’s grace in all of it’s beauty and splendour, and all it’s various forms.
soften
I am finding it more and more difficult to be gentle and peace-filled in this terribly fearful, violent world in which we are living. The hatred and overwhelming sadness are hardening my heart and spirit. I long to soften and feel kindness and compassion, once again.
I suspect many of us feel like this… Perhaps we can learn some softening together…
“everyone”
This word arrived in surprising immediacy years ago, the first time I was asked to offer a word from a meditation to carry into a new year…almost as if it had been waiting for its invitation to appear.
The quality beside that immediacy, is its lasting, which feels relational. It continues to guide and challenge and companion me and I feel us both looking forward to what it has to illumine in the coming year.
Softening…my word for 2015. As I was preparing myself for my Ireland pilgrimage with Christine this fall, I made a list of ‘virtues’ I would take with me and then wrote a poem for each. Softening was the last word on my list; I never got around to writing a poem for it. As I reviewed my journal entries made during my pilgrimage, the word ‘softening’ appeared more than once. It’s something that Christine encouraged. So I’ll spend 2015 figuring out what this word means for me and maybe even get that last poem written!
Peace has gently snuggled up next to me in the last little while, and I welcome her companionship in 2015.
I’m coming to accept that I have a pretty strong automatic fight/flight response and so anxiety is/has been a common experience for most of my life. I welcome Peace’s invitation to see what she might have to teach me. Far from peace at any price (denial), I feel called to practice her her wisdom of seeing things for what they are, breathing to help calm myself, letting it be (as best I can in each moment) and trusting I will be led with the next right thing when the timing is right.
In the meantime, I can wait and rest in her soothing presence.