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
I struggled to find my word for a number of days…then it came, REFLECTION. That seemed right somehow, then I opened a gift from from an out of town friend. It was an antique hand mirror. Wonderful synchronicity.
fierce … for me this means to live authentically and to move ever closer to the me I’ve been created to be, fearlessly with abandon, passion and relentlessness.
Joy — plunging into the cold ocean, joy on the threshold…not to be mistaken for happiness –Joy is deeper, much more radical, especially in the face of world weariness
My word is birthing. I can feel God working though my heart and soul to bring forth a new calling for my life. I am scared but also excited to embrace the destiny He is guiding me towards this year and always.
My word for 2016 is ‘woven’ and not the powerful word I was expecting. But as I look back on my writing, I discovered that I wrote this in 2015…”You are woven through my story O’ ‘Lord. You are my God thread, you cover me.”. Woven now carries a new richness, a strength of warp and weft that a weaver works with in creating.
Near the end of 2015, I was quite upset about something and kept hearing in my head the Stevie Winwood song, Can’t Find My Way Home. The first song I consciously heard this year – on the morning of January 1st, in the cosy company of my husband and cat – was Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill, which contains the refrain ‘I’ve come to take you home’. A feeling of peace and joy settled on me. The voice may be God’s, or it may be my own. Or, both. But my phrase for 2016 is ‘I’ve come to take you home.’
Dear Christine or John,
Just wanted you to know that I am unable to click on the comments link below and have it open for me. I was interested in reading some of the other peoples words and their comments that went with them.
Also, after sharing my word a few days ago, I realized that I had not shared what my word means for me, but only my word and that it had been choosing me for quite some time. If you would permit me to submit it again with the definition of what my word means for me, I will leave that here:
My word for 2016 is Create. In creating I am becoming more wholly me. To create is to live out my designed purpose.
My word is LIGHT. This has been a wonderful, life giving journey. Thank you.
Healing.
Healing for me will be a daily prism through which choices can be made every moment, healing into greater wholeness.
My word is Voice. Specifically authentic voice in my artwork and more broadly in my daily interactions. I hope for the lifegiving blending of kindness and honesty.