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 this year is “intimacy”. As I wrestled with God over my desires for peace, greater trust, courage in the midst of fear, I felt that this word incapsulated the way I was going to arrive at those things, intimacy with Jesus.
My one word for 2016 is trust. Trust in God’s goodness, faithfulness, wisdom, and love.
My word for 2016 is “space”. I hunger for more space to meet with God, to be present with my loved ones, to be open to the creative spirit and to just be.
Graciousness. I am my noble self when I choose graciousness in situations and interactions. Graciousness nourshes my relationships (particularly my marriage) while the failure to be gracious starves them.
My word is ….pause….
God
‘Be still and know that I am God’
I thought my word was “own,” yet it appears to be “heart.”
“Embodied” is the word that has chosen me: to see the wisdom my body already has for me; to allow myself to more fully embody and embrace, as a deeper way of engaging in the world; to develop my ability to see what is embodied in the world around me.. I have already noticed myself living into my word.
My word is COURAGE. I have just finished a drawing for my annual new year’s card for friends, choosing the one word I believe we all need most this year. Courage rises above the darkness, above fear and dread and rage, carrying us into the light. Two quotes that inspired me: “the antidote to uncertainty, it turns out, is not certainty, but courage.”–David Lose; and “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”–A.A.Milne. I personally have a long road ahead on rough terrain in 2016, and communally, we have darkness to confront in our beleaguered cities, and divisions in our country. May we all find the courage that will raise us toward the light
My One Word for 2016 is Trust. I chose this word (or did this word choose me?) as a reminder that God is in control and I just need to trust his infinite love for me.