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
“Bridge” is my word for 2016. I sense that in some way I am being called to be a bridge and perhaps at the same time, be willing to cross bridges to places unknown.
Delight…As I dance with my 10 year old son in the kitchen while cooking dinner and laugh hysterically with my 8 month old son over funny sounds the word delight has been given to me. Coloring , being home, going for walks, connecting with others on their spiritual journey…looking forward to how this deep joy will unfold in my life in this year.
My word for the year is “unfolding” – as unfolding from the guarded places and living more open heartedly — as unfolding of a seeding in the ground putting out tender tendrils, as unfolding of the lotus coming up from the mud — to open to its essence — so many layers — I feel it in my body as I slowly gently unfold form guarded to open, from anxious to trusting.
The word that shimmers for me this year is “Serenity” , which is something to strive for ,yet can be so allusive in today’s world.
“Whole-hearted” chose me today as my word. Lots of them have surfaced and alas, this one is it. Today is the Epiphany, another word I like, but I shan’t be too greedy and whole-heartedly choose to keep it to one, even if it is compounded. I appreciate seeing all the lovely words that have been choosing our fellow monks. What a collage they would make!
My word is “RELEASE”.
Home. I pray to open to and reside in my deep interior Home within and manifest a deep sense of home without. Interestingly, Christine, Home came to me VERY strongly while in Ireland with you and John. It’s here again!! Thank you.
My word has appeared over the last couple of weeks with nudge after nudge.First while singing a song that I love with my sacred web group. One by Carolyn McDade based on a piece of the Earth Charter. The song title is Reverence and here are the words, “Reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life and humility for our human place in nature and the whole.” Reverence is the word that kept calling me back. Reverence as a way of being in the world and a way of responding to the gift of life, both mine and the lives of all living beings. In my in- box a few days later I received an announcement from Spirituality & Practice about a new project in the “Explorations” section of SpiritualityandPractice.com. Guess what? The Reverence Project! I’m looking forward to living into this word during what is shaping up to be a challenging year.
.
there is nothing I need to change
I am loved
In the midst of all the changes that have gone on over the past six to seven months (since I accepted my new pastoral call) life has been chaotic and sometimes upside down. The word has sort of snuck up on me… go figure, isn’t that how the Holy Spirit often operates? She comes when you least expect her and in the most unlikely of guises.
Hope is the word that keeps bubbling up in my heart. The hope (and peace) that I have experienced since moving from a call that was pretty desolate and hopeless to a call where I am growing spiritually and feeling lots of hope bubbling up in my heart and life!