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
Just in case my word didn’t make it onto the list last time I tried, it is EASE. After a life time of toil and choosing the difficult way, maybe to master things, or through fear of being called lazy, I discover we are meant to live in a sense of ease. Pure nectar.
My word is wisdom.
This was actually “my word” for 2016 on FaceBook. It said that I would need wisdom as I face the challenges ahead.
I begin this year without my anam cara beside physically on my life journey, so as I travel alone I feel wisdom is indeed the word I need to guide me…..wisdom to discern: the best path for me, appropriate companions and so on.
Magic
(and keeping a sense of wonder)
And now
that the holidays have come and gone
and all the merry-making,
now subdued.
As the last of the carols fade away
and wee children tire
of hastily opened gifts,
As the gay wrappers,
have been torn and tossed,
and the last bottle of wine consumed,
We usher the time of giving way
we welcome the period of new beginnings.
Friends,
the years of melancholy are past.
The time of big magic is here!
Radical healing-the same two words I received while setting my intentions for Writing on the Wild Edges in September.
This year my word is Focus. I was already figuring it out because last year my word kept me going all year and produced fruit. Happy to be able to share this. Thank you!
My word for 2026 is Love.
TRUST EMERGENCE
Challenging circumstances invite me to turn from the old story and to rest nakedly in what is here now, trusting life’s intelligence to take me forward. Over and over, this is the invitation…. to turn towards this moment, and surrender to it.
I actually have two words this year, but they tend to go hand in hand, so I’m okay with that. My words are forgiveness and acceptance. There are a number of things that need forgiveness in my life, both my own and those of others. It’s finally time to start doing that, making amends where I need to and making clean breaks where I cannot. With that forgiveness comes acceptance. Again, this is both for myself and for others. Acceptance that things are what they are, and nothing will change some of them, particularly those in the past.. I will never forget things that have happened, to and by me, but I no longer want all of them to plague me constantly. They have brought me to where I am today, but I still have transitioning and growing to do. I can’t do that if I’m bogged down by negativity.
My word turned out to be “mercy”. I am usually pretty good with forgiving others. But where I lose connection is with forgiving myself, and finding within the God of Mercy. It is very difficult for me to move on from the past and live in the now.
My one word for 2016 is vow. To live by vow. To be guided by the deep essences of who we are. May our vow be our guiding light and ground beneath our feet in times of darkness, suffering and celebration. Felice Anno Nuovo.
Blessed be,
Cristina