SHARE YOUR WORD FOR 2017
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, 2017 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 the Sunday email).
WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ON JANUARY 6TH!
We are delighted to offer some wonderful gifts from the Abbey:
- One space in our upcoming New Year’s online retreat – Spiraling Inward: Seven Celtic Spiritual Practices
- One signed copy each of Illuminating the Way, Soul of a Pilgrim, Eyes of the Heart, The Artist’s Rule, and Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire.
- One space in our online program Sacred Seasons: A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
- 4 people will win their choice of our self-study online retreats
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!
316 Responses
This is the first time I have asked for a word; it seems to be BE STILL.
BEAUTY is my word for 2017. I have been wrestling/playing with a number of other possibilities; none fully encompassed what I had been feeling or experiencing as I went through the various practices. Then, I was reminded of a longtime favorite book of meditations devoted to embracing a Beautiful God and finding beauty – “that which lures us into the depth of things” – in moments and living things, ordinary and extraordinary. BEAUTY, I hope, will compel me to more attentive listening and greater appreciation of what and whom is right in front of me. (Quote from Patricia Adams Farmer)
My word is acceptance. That means I accept myself where I am in any particular moment, which is a real challenge, and then out of that flows acceptance for others where they are. Thank you, Christine, for this helpful invitation each year!
My word for 2017 is WITH. I sense the year ahead is one I am to intentionally cultivate deeper community and presence WITH God and with people…to experience friendship as never before.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9c3568e86d2a4cf0f0bfa9b20caeaf73aa0b7f73748fb735833b716dd225c67c.jpg “original” is my word for 2017. Present or existing from the beginning. Created by a particular artist. A maverick, free spirit or nonconformist. The source from which something arises. A person of fresh initiative or inventive capacity. YES!!
“Troubleproof” – which, of course, has nothing to do with how much trouble comes, but rather with the grace not to be flattened by it.
My word: Dance! It came to me in many forms, along with many others who wanted to be my 2017 word but Richard Rohr’s book Divine Dance brought it to the forefront. It’s about joy, energy, activity but most important it signifies dependence, relationship & connection.
My word is “BE”. The need to “be” present, to be in the presence with God. To find myself and “be” myself not what others expect of me. To “be” here and now and accept that it is going to be and it is fine. I am working in creating something with this word. Will attach the picture soon.
My word: “BE”
Blessings and aloha to everyone,
Magdalen
Behold. “You become what you behold.” This year I want to behold GOD more and my problems or myself less.
Rooted.