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
Two words won’t leave me alone : joy and wild! I’ve recently move to a house in the woods and I look forward to exploring this external interface with a wilder surroundings. I’m game to find the wild in me too…..maybe the joy resides there too.
Thank you for this focused retreat these last 12 day. Merry and Blessed Christmas!
Lesson 12
Behold.
The open door beckons, invites, tempts–
Stepping forward in faith
Crossing the threshold into newness of life
Behold!
The Christ awaits.
I have gone through a number of words…most with some direction on my part…a virtue or value that I think I should be focussed on this year; however, yesterday the word came to me: Faith. After thinking upon it, I realised that many of the other words in my mind were encompassed in this word. 2015 has been a year filled with many challenges – some of my own making through careless thought and action and others through the pain of loved ones in my life. I believe that a reconnection in 2016 with many of the aspects of Faith – spirituality, hope, purpose, solace, constancy and trust – will bring about a rejuvenation of my self and soul.
My word finally popped up when reading an Advent schedule. It is grace. Yet it is a word that I love to use when I witness it or when I tell my story. Why it did not come to the front of mind I don’t know but I am very happy to have it to carry and say regularly this new year.
The word that has chosen me is LISTEN. This will certainly be an adventure. Already I am asking this word to tutor me in the practice of being fully present to the Spirit. I so resist solitude and silence which I suspect will become my listening classroom.
The Word I received for 2016 –
Blank Page – wait patiently for it to be written DO NOT start to plan and fill.
Enjoy the empty days.
Very excited by this as my husband and I are about to move 400 miles to a new location in the new year and everyone has been asking us what we will be doing, workwise, churchwise, lifewise, and it is so good to know that God just wants us to sit and wait for Him to fill it
Gestation. “And don’t think the garden
loses its ecstasy in winter.
It’s quiet, but the roots
are down there riotous.”
Rumi
Each day I receive the lessons on “Give me a Word!” Thank you very much.
I wonder why I cannot see the comments of others. And, that the print coming in from your site is so very light,
I can hardly read it! I am visually handicapped; and do have difficulties reading the light grey!
What can I do about this. I’ve asked a trainer at the Apple Store, and was told that the light print comes from
the selections on the web sites that I access.
My “Word” for 2016 is slow in comingI uncomfortable was the first that slid in quietly, also, “blind” and now it’s
“death”!
uncomfortable indeed! this threshold of darkness and unknowing!
Shestelle
I have chosen the word “gratitude” for my word to contemplate upon throughout 2016. I’m very grateful for my life, family, friends, God, nature, and the opportunity to be a part of the Abbey of the Arts community along with a couple other spiritual communities.
Wishing all persons love, joy, peace, and hope this Christmas season.
I chose focus or maybe focus chose me. I went online to look at meanings for focus and I found this: which I thought confirmed my decision. I thought of the monk manifesto. Someone has put together a program to aid in focusing called:
focus : a simplicity manifesto in the age of distraction
Focus is about finding simplicity in this Age of Distraction.
It’s about finding the focus you need to create, to work on what’s important, to reflect, to find peace.