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
My word for 2016 is WISDOM. In the quietness of my heart, I sense the call of wisdom, drawing me toward discernment, happiness, creativity, and peace, as I seek to do the things that matter most.
For the past 5 years I have Ben using the one word concept. Love exploring new ways for my word to find me. This year MINDFUL will guide me.
My word is RECEIVE the acrostic poem reads:
R ready
E embrace
C confident
E exciting
I inherit and inviting
V vibrant
E energy
I am in transition this year and am ready to receive the surprises that God brings.
Persistance – it means to continually push at the things that need to be doing and not giving up, and developing discipline.
My word is “Change”.
As this new year dawns, their is great opportunity for change and many changes loom on the horizon. I look forward to reflecting on “change” as a spiritual practice.
My word came to me completely just the other day. At first, a few days earlier I thought I sensed that God’s word to me could be “path,” but I wasn’t entirely convinced, so I waited. A few days later, it arrived in full : “path of longing .” That leaves me much to ponder. I understand that God has me on a path of longing, and that path is NOT a place of hopeless, ceasless dissatisfaction, as the phrase might imply, but exactly what that path IS, I have yet to explore and understand .I look forward to the adventure ahead with my loving Lord.
My phrase this year is ‘courageous discovery’ – here is the poem I wrote about it from day 12 of the retreat
Courageous discovery
There is a little voice urging,
Always niggling
A constant ‘ba bump, ba bump, ba bump’.
The sacred transformation of stretching
The rhythms of life
Of trying
Of giving everything you’ve got, heart and soul
And then
Giving a little bit more.
The fire of discovery can burn away any fear
Because it’s all about action,
And
Discovery supersedes fear.
I stretch intrepid fingers recklessly
Forward
In yellow-bellied audaciousness.
My determined foot
Traipsing foolhardily towards
The unknown.
Like a leaf blowing in a gust
Its vulnerability being tossed and turned
I take that first step
Knowing fear is at my side
But letting fear be my friend.
The intuitive joy of making mistakes
Of learning anew
Of journeying deeply within
As well as without.
I remember that I am but a wave on the ocean
Breathing in heaven
The sweet saltiness of God
following guru star into eternity and hearing his voice from there
My word is the Dutch word ‘houvast’ which means something like ‘holding to’ of ‘get a grip on’.
My word is Surrender and Trust