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
I felt drawn to my word early in this retreat, but I wasn’t sure until the last day or so.
It is Courage.
There are some difficult aches deep inside of me, & it became clear to me that courage is needed for me to find a way forward …….courage to trust, to journey through the pain, to let go & to be strong when I need to be strong. Courage to know that as God cares for the birds of the sea …he cares for me also.
The word on my mind at the moment is Share. I was originally drawn to Teach, as I am in the process of setting up my own online courses at the moment, but to teach IS to share and share has such deep connotations for me, and has a humility to it that is worth spending time considering.
My word is TREASURE. And this morning it was confirmed when I suddenly one of my favourite poems -‘a bright field’ by R.S.Thomas:
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
Mercy. It keeps rising in my thoughts.
Bob says:
My word is “vulnerable.” I need to allow myself to be vulnerable by letting go of control and trusting God’s Process.
What a wonderful way to celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas!
My word for 2016 is “Gratitude”, to awaken each day and be grateful for whatever that day entails.
I want by Grace to learn more about detachment to find a deeper union with the Divine
My phrase is “Hearing into speech”, aware of learning once again that I have skills to listen to others and need to be ready to do this wherever and whenever and also to hear myself into speech.
I had a wonderful massage, pre Christmas, by a true bodily healer. I asked to be given my word or phrase, during.
Ít was “Accept the struggle.”Being OCD and controlling, I saw it as a way to start to let go of some of that…the words were almost visual.
Since, I have also received the word “Detach”…try to focus on my life and not so much on others.
WORTHY
I am a pathological care giver… I’m Leaning into my own sence of being worthy of care.