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 THRESHOLD. Whether I am going out or coming in I am crossing a threshold. My goal is to be aware of the Divine as I cross these thresholds and allow my soul’d knowledge to guide me as to what these thresholds represent.
My word is Mercy. I was set on a different word, but something was telling me I was forcing it. Then this morning at Mass, Mercy just jumped out at me and immediately it felt perfect in every sense. I know this is the year of Mercy, and was concerned that it may conjure up all kinds of images, but not so… It picked me,
Qavah.
It’s a Hebrew word that’s been following me recently, meaning wait, hope, expect.
My word for 2016 is EMBRACE.
My word was quietly insistent. I resisted it as too cute, too cliche. My cynical side was hoping foe something powerful — warrior, maybe. Or evocative — journey? But my word stood gently before me, encouraging a year that is healing, that is soft. A word that relaxes, eases, heals, genlty explores.
My word is heart.
So I will follow “heart” wholeheartedly, in to the heart of the forest, with courage, with soul, to the core of myself.
My word for 2016 is HOPE!
MAGNANIMITY, n. [L. magnus, great, and animus, mind.] Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquility and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge, and makes him delight in acts of benevolence, which makes him disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts him to sacrifice personal ease, interest and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble objects. (Noah Webster dictionary)
Presence
My word is “Now.” In the past I have resisted this word. It seemed to be a rejection of past lessons and an avoidance of considering the future. Right now it is speaking to me. “Now” is the culmination of the past, right up to this moment, which if lived fully, will raise up the good and the bad from the past in deeper understanding of the present. Being fully present in “Now” will lead me onto the right path in the future.
Although it’s a noun, it feels like a verb (with an alternate spelling): Center*peace chooses me for 2016.