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
The word which appeared and reappeared for me over the last several days is Acceptance. Perhaps in these latter years I am finally beginning …
My word for 2016 is Brave. I am in the midst of major life changes and need bravery to follow through once I make the hard decisions.
The word which chose me is Unfolding.
I read a resonating quote from Richard Rohr,” You don’t need to push the river because you are already in the river”.
I pray to trust in the water, to rest in the flow of the river and let the current carry me. I want to stop pushing so hard,
to let life unfold like the gentle opening of flower petals.
My word is TRUST. My constant worry about everything and trying to “fix” everything is a lack of trust in God. I also try by fussing and worrying and fixing to do God’s work, and it doesn’t work. I must trust also in that still small voice that I do hear when I am still, when I let my mind be still enough. My mantra, I think, will be Julian of Norwich’s words: “All will be well. All will be well. All manner of things will be well.” I will create a piece of visual art with this mantra. What a burden off of these human shoulders trusting in God is.
Wisdom is the word that has come to me from a number of sources.
I begin this year without my anam care, my companion on my life journey for the last 31 years. So, I feel I need wisdom as I now walk alone – wisdom to discern my path, wisdom to understand new companions, wisdom to walk through the grief, wisdom to find myself once again.
Open
Open your eyes, ears, arms, heart, mind
Pen to paper as you write, draw, doodle, create!
Entertain possibility…
Now!
My word comes to me with such optimism and positive energy. I have had a year of change and now enter a more settled time for “blooming” in many ways.
I have been choosing a word for the year for over 20 years. As I reflected upon a word for this year, the thought came to me to review all the words I had chosen previously. I felt very called to return to the very first word because it is the basis for all other words chosen. That word is Love.
A word is Inspire that I might inspire the good in another; reframe negative thoughts within me with with thoughts that inspire.
My word is Honey. I had a dream where a very young boy was with me and he was crying bitterly, and when I started to ask him if he was hungry and what he wanted, before I could get the words out he said, “I want honey.” The honey I want to see and be aware of this year is the natural sweetness of life. It is harder for me to see than the bitterness and cynicism. Wishing everyone a sweet 2016 filled with growth and love.
The word “dawning” for me is DAYBREAK . As I have gone through the days of Christmas, concepts, images and words have come to mind that can be summed upon this one word. Despite what we have seen and known, the new day, the new year ahead holds us gently, offering light, creative potential, opportunity for mercy, love and joy.