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
Breathe….the Breath of Life.
My word is MYSTERY. I will honor the mystery that each new day brings and live fully; without fear; to love and serve the Lord.
My word is PAUSE, and the subtext is “and allow your awareness to flow into the moment and environment that immediately surround you such that you more fully inhabit that space.” This is something I do in spiritual direction, in meditation, and often when out in nature, but I feel that I am being invited – drawn, urged – to be more mindful about doing it in the more mundane, ongoing moments of life.
My word is gentle. I want it to soften my harshness that pops out, surprising me as well as others.
My word is “learn”. I want to approach all others as my teachers. I want to receive them humbly. I want to wonder at what they know. I want to “forget” what I know so that I walk not haughtily, but with curiosity and respect.
My word is JOY. It has popped up everywhere during these days. My last few years have not been joy-filled. I have lost a member of my family each year for the last three years, and my husband’s mother died this last summer, so we’ve been experiencing a lot of grief in our house. To see the word JOY show up has given me hope that perhaps this year will be one without a death in our families.
My word is HOME. I want to faithfully tend the home fire that I carry in the depth of my heart. The God-given eternal flame. deep in the center. May it always burn brightly.
My word is ponder…it speaks to me of surrender, slowness, reflection with spirit
I commit to solitude in the world – loving it and also longing to be present to the other – a marriage of differences but always to brig the solitude approach to each interpersonal moment.
My word is COURAGE as it is intangible and something only the SELF can know for sure, when it is captured in a moment of action or decision making. There are so many tangibles in this life that are thought to be known, because they can be touched. It is the intangible illusory which calls me into a deeper understanding of “the other.” How ‘the other’ feels, thinks, acts, and my interaction with these–are the mirrored self. I too am reflected in the other and I am called to have the COURAGE to understand my part in all relationships. I wait to know what avenues the courageous will take me down in order to know my SELF more fully.