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
INTENTIONAL!
My word is acceptance, for myself, for others, for the things God is doing in my life.
My word is searching. I seem to be stuck in one of those dessert places and I am searching for a way out, both spiritually and bodily.
My word is Prophesy…..in this year of holy mercy, I began with a death in my family. I am “speaking” into my own life, and those that I love of the things that I believe that God wants “birthed” through mercy.
As we have year, star words (printed on yellow stars) were picked by the congregation the first Sunday in January. We let the Holy Spirit do the choosing for us as we reach in and take a star. I was looking for a challenging word and “JOY” was my word. Over the years and through some challenging times, some of the joy within me has seeped out. After an overly busy and hectic Nov. & Dec. I believe God desires that I recover the joy that has been so much a part of my life and who I am. I look forward to practicing joy, receiving joy as God presents it and looking for joy all around me during the year.
My word for 2016 is “DIG,” which may sound a little strange. The past few years I’ve been exploring a variety of paths, which I have enjoyed, but now I feel myself in a place of deepening with the commitments I’ve made. In particular I’ve embarked on a writing project that truly is a dig down into past experience and emotion.
I received my word this morning. It is: STILL. While I had considered a couple of words, I recognized this as the gift it is as soon as I received it, and I am so grateful for it! Briefly, here is some of what it calls forth for me. 1. My mother died on December 20 after a brief illness (dx 12/8 with gallbladder cancer). Yet though she died, her love is STILL with me. She STILL believes in me. She STILL inspires me. 2. Like many people, I wrestle with over-busyness and I crave STILLness. I need to STILL my mind, and rest in quiet. 3. “He leads me beside STILL waters. He quiets my soul.” 4. Even though I have not yet achieved what I want in my health, STILL I will work at healthy eating. 5. When in Scotland, my youngest son and I visited 3 diSTILLeries, and I acquired a taste for single malt. 6. “Be STILL, and know that I am God.” 7. I STILL practice yoga, and I appreciate the STILLness-in-motion that nourishes me in this practice. The online dictionary tells me that STILL is a noun, a verb, an adverb, an adjective, a conjunction and even an idiom (“even though you dislike them, still and all you should be polite”). So it can guide who I am, how I am, what I do, how I do it – it can bring together parts of my life, and shimmer throughout it all. STILL.
My word is ALLOW. I have come to realise that even in my prayer life I can be trying to control things, rather than surrendering and allowing Spirit to move. So my intent is to just show up and say yes to a connection with the Divine…and allow her to arrange things as she will
Heart.
Simply put, I want to live each moment from my heart. I want to follow my heart. My heart is my connection to my self, to others and to Source.
The word that arises and seems to bite me is OTHER.
A little nudge says yes despite an awkward reaction of “wha'”????
OTHER than I would expect
OTHER than what has been
OTHER than I might imagine
OTHER than this fear and grief laden tissue that grips my bones
OTHER
….and the image of the shadow that Peter Pan has sewn back to his toes arises as I write this.
So I shall see what OTHER has to teach me…..