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
Gently. “Think gently, speak gently and live gently, so that the whole world will be touched gently by the essence of your being.” This quote by Mattie JT Stepanek that I encountered a couple months ago has really resonated with me. I find I need to become more aware of being gentle toward myself, towards my family, towards every human being I encounter personally or through the media. Gently, tenderly, kindly.
Courage. I feel called to speak out more about injustice and defending the marginalized as well as have courage to try new things in my personal life this year.
I believe my word is STEP. Last year’s word was Threshold. It was a year of great changes for me in all aspects of my life. At the end of 2016, I literally crossed a threshold. Now, in 2017, I ask myself if I am ready and willing to take the next STEP. Can I take a STEP forward in faith? Yes, I can.
I had been thinking that my word was ‘PRAYER’, and I still think that that will be an important word for me this year, but having read the Monk’s Manifesto has prompted the word that challenges and draws me is ‘WORK’, which is something that I definitely need to journey with in the year to come. It excites me and makes me angry so it is definitely the right one!
My word for 2017 is “I Am”. I went for a contemplative walk at night; the crescent moon casting a halo in the clouds, the wind rustling the leaves in the trees. The leaves rustle even louder… “I am with you.” I feel safe. As I walk on, I become aware that the promise is to comfort my small self. I hear the words “I Am”, and realize that these are the words for me to grow into.
My word is “turn around”. it means to stop running and look around and to be grateful abut the view
my word for threshing the hold: HONESTY
The word that has chosen me is “home”: my home in God; my home with my husband; at home in my body; at home with the earth. I am grateful for the gift of this centering word.
My word is “threshold”. In the midst of a shattering and unexpected divorce after 31 years of marriage, a forced move, the death of my mother, and a new job, all in two months, I did not think I would survive – and did not want to. But after four months, a friend directed me to this website, and I feel I am at the beginning of a new life of growth – spiritually, emotionally, and in so many other ways. Trust, faith and hope are my watchwords, and I am at the threshold of new life and new beginnings.
Sorry for the heaviness; it really is better than it has been. As a friend said, 2016 set the bar pretty low for 2017 to be a better year!
May your threshold be rich in healing, abundant in blessings, and bursting with many moments of joy and laughter.
This is still working on me, but I’m running out of time to enter the contest!
My word for 2017 is WARMTH – warmth in relationships and holding tender spaces for others and myself, warmth in adoration, pouring out my affections to God, warmth in cultivating empathy, warmth in “abiding & restful union”.