SHARE YOUR WORD FOR 2016
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 January 6, 2016 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.
Subscribe to our email newsletter and you will receive a link to start your mini-retreat today. Your information will never be shared or sold. (If you are already subscribed to the newsletter, look for the link in today’s email).
WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ON JANUARY 6TH!
We are delighted to offer some wonderful gifts from the Abbey:
- One signed copy each of Soul of a Pilgrim, Eyes of the Heart, The Artist’s Rule, and Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire.
- One space in Sacred Seasons: A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
- 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 we will announce the prize winners!
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712 Responses
My word for 2016 is “live”. Fr. Richard Rohr said , “You can’t think your way into a new way of living, you must live your way into a new way of thinking”. My intention is to hold these words in my heart for 2016 .
I didn’t think I’d find my word. Yet surprisingly it came to me on my morning walk to the bus. Hope. A word I hate, despise, long for. Despair has been my companion word for the last three years. An important three years being in the desert with despair. Yet on that dark winter walk to the bus I knew in a moment that if there was a word to wrestle with this year, it was the word that has started to hound me, nip at my ankles to be noticed. Hope. A word that I refuse to leave despair behind for, because despair takes me to lament. I suspect both words will become boon companions on my left and right – somehow finding a way to hold both, never giving up one for the other, but together birthing life in some way I can’t yet imagine.
My word for 2016 is COURAGE. I had an incredibly hard 2015 and changes in my family that have broken my heart. Finding the courage to go on in spite of the turmoil in spite of wanting to just give up
My “word(s)” for 2016 : “mindful self-care”
My word is joy. When I came to that at the end of the Manifesto it jumped out at me. I realized that I never use the word joy. Happy, pleased, contented – but not joy.
So today my partner and I drove a 2 hour somewhat tedious and uninteresting trip to Phoenix. I felt joy at: our companionship,; the different colors of the rocks; the unusual cloud formations; the fields plowed and ready for planting; even the barren spaces where hardy plants endure the heat and dryness to survive.
I am tahankfully looking forward to many more joyful moments in the coming year.
the word CARE presents itself to me… self-care is not selfish … I am giving myself permission to take care of myself before I offer care to others – like putting on the oxygen mask before helping another with their mask,,,
My word for 2016 is DARE – Dare to follow my own unfolding path – even when it is uncomfortable – rather than looking for the straight one – in trust that it is the Holy One who is leading me.
Still
My word for 2016 is SLOW … if I could remember to think, eat, decide, walk, love, respond, and act in all ways more SLOWly … my relationships, health and very soul would benefit with more grace and compassion.
I keep hearing “resistance” and “kindness”. Where am I resisting and what can I do differently to enhance my experience, this my journey. Kindness, I need to practice kindness when dealing with innocent bystanders (the people in the system not the ones who created it).