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
Not entirely sure yet, but I think my word for 2017 will be NOURISH.
My word only arrived this morning in my meditation, and it is ‘Trust’. It took the full 12 days to make itself known, in itself an invitation to step into it, to sit with the waiting. Once it knocked on my door however, it spread itself out in all the nooks and crannies of my being, like a welcome visitor and friend, and a sigh of recognition entered with it. So here I am ready to allow it to do its work for the next 12 months.
Expectant.
LOCATE
L iving from my essence
O nly unmediated reality
C clearly
A attending and voicing
T he heart of the matter
E everything is held in the Centre
Honor. The word seems to have lost it’s luster, It seems old fashioned. I pray to have it come alive through me as I with God’s grace honor myself, my family, my work, those with whom I have an encounter, creation – all to the mirroring of the kin-dom of God. Lord, let it be so.
Manifest
My word for 2017 is Desert.
Desert Place
Deserted place
Extreme temperatures
Fiery hot–frostbite cold
Arid–Parched
Prickly plant life–sparse
Empty
Alkaline
Sandy
Windswept
Wide Wasteland
Crouched under the Rain Shadow
My word is “Release” – knowing I don’t have to hold on, but that I am being held – in EVERYTHING
My word is ILO. It is Finnish and means joy. I also like the word delight, which includes the meanings of light and lightness
Abide