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
Anchor.
For too long, I have skimmed across the surface of many practices without sinking into the depths of the unknown, without exploring the treasures beneath.
My word appeared this past Sunday. It is “write.” I am seeking guidance from Holy Spirit.
I started with one word (Wisdom) and lived into / with it for 3 days all the while feeling it wasn’t quite the word so I changed it to (awareness) and did the same journey with awareness that I had with wisdom. It felt somewhat right but not exactly. Then my ah-ah moment I read a sentence in Ricard Rohr’s work and these few words grabbed me and I have been saying yes ever since … Turns out my word is a phrase … “Surrender a bit more” it rolls through my thoughts and heart day and night as I live my daily life. I can’t purpose where it will take me during a year’s practice but I can say I’m eager for the journey!
Wait.
I have been waiting for my word…..and all the time I was already living it! I am really not good at waiting. I will dodge waiting in every creative way….
“I will wait for the LORD, who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my hope in him.”
??Isaiah? ?8:17? ?NLT??
http://bible.com/116/isa.8.17.nlt
My word is “wholeness.” The word hit me and felt so right. It felt, peaceful, yet curious, pacifying but still held the power to lead me further. It has been my soul’s desire for quite sometime. A journey to wholeness.
Wow. Last year, my Word came after a bit of a struggle. “Nourish” had sailed into my herad early on but wasn’ the one I “wanted” or thought I “needed”, so I ignored it and went with something else . . . and seriously? I can’t now even remember what it was. It seemed right, but it never “clicked” and the year came & went and the Word withered and vanished and left no mark. This year — for 2016 — the word NOURISH strode through the front door, stepped in front of me, hands on hips, looked me square in the eye and said: “SO, are you going to listen to me this time? You NEED me.”
And NOURISH is right. I need it on every level of myself, my being, my life. Every corner of me & my world needs nourishing & care. And in 2016 I’m going to listen. In fact. I’ve already started to listen: in the past three days I’ve asked myself “is this going to nourish me?” and three times, the answer has been a resounding NO! And when I then asked myself “well, what *would* nourish me?”, the answerrs came through so loud clear gentle & lovingly all I could think was. well, that’s pretty obvious!
So I see where NOURISH and I are a good fit for 2016. It’s going to be an interesting year! Thanks, Christine!
My word is conversion. I am in the midst of a powerful conversion that began years ago in very small ways, but is now at the center of my life. My intention is to live into this conversion each day.
Re-birth. The theme of re-birth has been a constant for me throughout Advent, commanding my attention in many ways. From yesterday’s sermon to other almost daily reminders, this word, this message has caught and held my imagination.
Love
Invitation. As I move through the breakup of a relationship that was so important to me, I hope that now and as the journey unfolds, I can be alert to the invitation that lies even in that which is unchosen, undesired.