SHARE YOUR WORD FOR 2018
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 5, 2018 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 – The Wisdom of the Body
- One space in our Lent retreat – Watershed Moments in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
- 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!
433 Responses
WILLING…..to fully embrace Life.
Willing: a word to inspire and evoke falling deeper in love with Life!
My word is RENEW. I wait as that word rings with clarity and brings the spirit anew into my life’s journey.
“nothing is lost”
My word for 2018 is KINSHIP.
I’m eager to explore the connection to kith and kin and kindness using T.S. Eliot, Greg Boyle, Mary Catherine Bateson, William Stafford, Annie Dillard and Tillie Olsen as mentors.
the word that has been with me for the season of Advent is “Light”, and seems to want to stay with me into the new year. Light is needed so desperately–the light of hope and love, the light of Christ. how does that impact my living, the ministry to which I am called, my artwork, in fact, everything I do and think and say?
I was trying to decide between two words so I write a poem for each. In the first poem I actually came up with a third word that is my word for 2018: WONDER. My poem for this word:
The orange-red sunset
behind the trees
lights up the sky in
a wonderous display
of courage and beauty,
and I wonder
at its boldness,
fleeting attention to itself,
no purpose or productivity,
just a pallate of pretension,
momentary wonder.
, My word is Optimistic. I need to let go of worry and control and be more hopeful and optimistic.
My word for 2018 is FINISH. My pattern has been to start many things or envision starting things but not follow through to completion. This year my intention is to close the gap between inspiration and action and between action and completion.
Forging ahead to COMPLETION
Inspired by GOAL ACHIEVEMENT
Now I am MOTIVATED to act ONE and DONE
Investing in my personal GROWTH
Striving for PROGRESS over perfection
Happy to celebrate my ACCOMPLISHMENTS
I’m drawn to “bare/bear” as a companion for 2018. Thank you for your wise guidance, Christine. I truly feel like this word chose me. As I grow older and become more and more aware of the constant flow of life, I sense an invitation to become a dear friend to myself – to bare what is deep within me especially when there are difficult changes to bear.