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
As I thought about what I most hoped to be in the coming year the word that came to me was…”Willing”. I mulled many other words but willing seems to be the first step, the one that fits best. I hope to be willing to be open, willing to be changed… willing to be present…willing to be accepting of others ….willing to be generous…willing to be forgiving….willing to learn…..willing to love..willing to take risks and willing to trust that God is in control and I am not.
HOPE…the reason, the purpose, the meaning, the destination…all because of a Child birthed in a manger, and a Man dying on a cross and rising from the tomb, because of LOVE incarnate, God Himself…I can be, I can live in HOPE!
My word is appropriately…discipline! :)
My word is rooted. The past two years I have gone through the whole course and struggled with my words, but this year it was just there when I sat for meditation outside on an unusually warm day after Christmas. At first I disagreed – I like to consider myself open to change and flowing. I grew up moving around and my family is scattered, but we stay in close contact, so rooted makes me think of staying in one place. But after two days I’ve already come to know it may be much more than just staying in a place. I remembered my yoga teacher likes to say, “Root to rise,” and while the course is full, Christine’s new course calls for the book, “If Women Rose Rooted,” which I did buy anyway…Hmmm…Looking forward to see where “rooted” takes me in 2017.
Trust and entrust. As my trust in God deepens, I learn to entrust to God more of that which I hold dear and near to my heart.
I shared in the online course comments. Here it is again. The word that has emerged to me is “trust.” As I age and as the political climate here in the U S is troubling me, I have found myself obsessing and becoming almost fearful of the future. Trusting God to be my courage and strength is what I yearn for in 2017.
Resurrection. I was surprised by this. But it won’t leave. I think it has to do with transitions, but also with Christ’s resurrection and what that means to me. These two things are intertwined somehow.
I have not yet chosen my word, friend, but one that has been rising as I have reflected on The Christ’s resuur has been Transcendence.
My word for 2017: QUIET. Shhhh. Take time to turn within, to be still, and wait for the Voice of God to speak to me. Let the noisiness of the mind become quiet, and enter the eternal spaciousness where words are unnecessary for communion to take place.
The word that has chosen me for this coming year is Awaken . It came quickly this time as almost out of nowhere and seems to follow on last years word of expansion. My prayer is that God would awaken my spirit to the expanded places in and around me. Awaken.
Two words tumbled about each other JOY and LOVE. I chose LOVE. My intention is to choose LOVE in all its divine aspects from noun to verb and in all its tenses. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE