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!
If this is your first time commenting at the Abbey, or you are including a link, your comment will need to be approved before appearing, which usually takes less than 24 hours.
712 Responses
Hospitality is the word that comes to me – hospitality of my home, hospitality of spirit as I listen to and pray for those who come into my life. hospitality of self as I give of my time for others..
Being an open door to where God is calling me.
Trust. Trust! TRUST! Again with the “trust!” It’s not the first time this word has visited me, calling me to see more clearly. I find myself resisting what life is offering me right now. I feel abandoned. Maybe I did something wrong? Stuck in this spiral of self-doubt and divine-blame, trust visits me again. All is well, even if things are not going according to MY plan. My message continues to be “Trust that all is in divine order even when it appears to be chaos.”
My word is EXPAND. I have moved to a new state and I have an opportunity to step outside my usual boundaries and habits without anyone making comments. I am embracing this opportunity. I look forward to when it might take me.
My word this year is “dwelling.” I’ve been wild over-busy and overwhelmed and frantic, in too much motion, and when this word came to me, it came with the image of slowly sinking into stillness, resting and breathing, paying attention, coming home . . .
My word is “living”. To me this word invites me to truly experience life.
My word for this year is “impermanence”.
My WORD for 2016 came to me early on in the process, though it felt “too soon” and “not quite right”! I tried using other words that might be similar as I sat with the word “FIRE” . Each one was just “ok”….. but no other word really connected with my whole being. Then I began to be aware that the word “fire” was coming to me in Christine’s writings:
THE HOURS OF THE DAY…..Day -“Be ablaze with enthusiasm, Let us be a live burning offering before the altar of God” ~Hildegard. Then the question: “How are you called to be ablaze with enthusiasm”. There were several others from Christine and the Advent retreat. I opened a book that I had marked many years ago and there was a poem “Hearts on Fire”- really? My husband and I have been doing a major purge of our extensive library over the holidays in anticipation of a major move, Again, a book that I had not read or used in years “Why Not Become FIRE?” jumped out at me! No more resistance! No more wondering why!! No more need to questioning any of it!!! Just let it be for 2016! FIRE .
( I have read “water, wind, earth, and fire” by CVP but have not really experienced it. I also know there is a self study Praying with the Elements that at some point when the time is right I want to explore. And so it is!
Expand and allow
As one currently undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, my word for the year is perseverance. This is the race set before me and I am running it with the attitude of “pilgrim.” The new year threshhold offers a new container for a new normal.
My word for the year is RELEASE. During my journey there are always new things/situations/people to notice, interact with and take in. To be effective in engaging I am drawn in the coming year to release whatever blocks my path at the moment so my heart can stay open and I make room for the new.