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
My word for 2017 is JOY. Not quite sure how this will unfold, but I ended my year with letting go of some responsibilities and the reason I drilled down to it (past “it was time” and “needed to stop doing” and other baggage) was that I wanted to experience joy and delight. I experience joy in painting already, so I’m hoping that moments of joy will continue to shimmer forth and will deepen per the Dalai Lama’s and Archbishop Tutu’s “Book of Joy”.
Discernment. I am ready to spread my wings and try new things both in my life and chosen vocation. But I need to practice listening to the Spirit and not my own ego which thinks it knows best!
Two things struck me. I read your service for Jan 5 on contemplation and prayer and wished you would have video access to this in real time and online. And I sang Kristopher’s chants last night for peace and wished it was taped for online viewing and distributed to other communities. My word for you is VIDEO.
Thanks, Denise. Good idea. I hope I can get someone to make an audio recording of it anyway that will be posted later. But I hear and see the word video and agree to add it to my 2017 hope.
Love. I am being asked to deepen my practice and truly open to myself and others in love–to accept, allow, see, even in those whose unskillful actions have caused me harm.
Warm. My wish is for all humans and all creatures to be
warm and safe in cold times,
warm and true in the embrace of friends and family,
warm and loved in the eternal Warmth of the Trinity.
‘tenderly’ arrived this past week and feels very right at this juncture in my life….opening tenderly to all of Life, including to and with myself, is where I am orienting this coming year. Thank you for this!
I’m in the middle of a separation and need to build new relationships and rebuild my life. My word is “intimacy.” I desperately long for intimacy in my life. A secondary word is “vulnerability.” I can’t have intimacy without making myself vulnerable to other people.
I was pondering my word when I heard ” Imagine” by John Lennon on the TV. It struck my heart and I knew this was my word for 2017. “Imagine” , for me, is filled with so much meaning and potential. I feel this will be an exciting year for me as I imagine that meaning and fulfill that potential in my life
“Transmute” is the word that came for 2017. I was surprised to get this word, but I’m intrigued with its meaning and possibility and alchemy connection.
So I have two words for 2017. The first for myself is “beauty”, based on this from Thich Nhat Hanh “To be beautiful means to be yourself” – I want to be more fully myself in the new year. The second, for the religious community I lead, is “possibility”, echoing the words of Elizabeth in Luke’s gospel : Nothing is impossible for God.
My word last year was “beauty” and it was such an inspiring and insightful year for me….so enjoy and embrace the year Kara….”We need beauty because it makes us ache to be worthy of it” – Mary Oliver.
“Follow through”. I had originally thought discipline, but as I contemplated further, the gentler, more supportive version came out. I am delighted to be supported with “follow through” in 2017.