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 this year will be ” wealth ”
It came to my mind even before I started to think about it.
It doesn’t mean money, well, not only money but in fact wealth in every possible way.
I will be surprised by live what it will give me and my family
Marion
Open
Essence has raised itself up as my word. From latin for being, I am seeking to be more aware of the divine in my life, the spirit that I am part of and that has sustained me through a year of change and grief.
Harmony
As one in the midst of radiation and chemo for brain cancer, my word for the year is perseverance. I pray to keep movng forward with hope on this pilgrimage to discover what God has planned for this next season of my life. I am not fnished here yet.
My word for the year is practice. This is the first year I am discovering many new spiritual practices and I feel God is telling me this journey doesn’t need to be perfect but to practice, grow, and let go of perfectionism.
Graciousness. I am my noble self when I choose graciousness in situations and interactions. Graviosness nourshes my relationships (particularly my marriage) while the failure to be gracious starves them.
Hope!
authentic – for most of my life I have known I am a deeply spiritual person – which scared me – later woman – and it scared me even more. Images of witch burnings and women dying agonizing deaths for their faith danced in my head and heart. I have spent a lot of time dancing around or running away from this awareness of my essential essence – usually though intellectualizing my spiritual journey or not really “owning” it as an essential part of my social/ecological justice work – until poor health would stop me. So – going forward – to ground and live out this essence (which I believe/experience all Creatures/Creation has – particularly us human Earthlings) in all my relations.
Courage
After many years living with a adult child who is an addict attempting to find the right balance of love and boundaries and failing as much as succeeding this year is challenginG me further to understand and embrace courage for those times of endurance and joyful expectation each with its own pitfalls.