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
My word developed as I did the mini- retreat…It began as “Wisdom”…but was beautified with “Strong and Tender”…and then “Joyful and Dancing”…”Guide of all creation.” It embodies the masculine and feminine in the development…
My phrase is “go get it.” This Advent I’ve been reading a book about Mary, and they reflected on Mary’s prayer of Let it be. For me, the words lead me to feel passive, even though I know there’s a ton of action in those words. So, go get it is my version of let it be. This last year I’ve felt like I’ve just coasted. I want to surrender to the divine, go into the world, and participate in what she has in store for me.
I have two words. I kept wanting to narrow it to one. Then my husband reminded me that he had two words, resist and trust for 2018. So I’m sticking with both of my words. I’ve written a haiku for both. My first word is Present. I have a deep desire to stay present to people. I’m often a future person and so I must work at being present in the present. My other word is Convictions. I’ve worked for a conservative evangelical organization for 31 years. I’m no longer there and I feel so very free. I’ve become more broad in my views. I know the convictions they hold. But what are MY convictions. In 2018 I’m searching for and desiring to discover my convictions.
Here are my two Haiku poems.
Three actually. I forgot that I combined the two words in a 3rd Haiku.
Present with people
In community comes growth
Though never easy
Naming convictions
Often hard work to discern
My heart and mind’s truth
Focused discernment
Present to my convictions
Jesus, me, others
Anita Lustrea, Sarasota, FL
Stand
Noun, verb, directive, all sorts of concordance-of-the-brain scripture references, and this will doubtless keep changing identities over the year. Right now it says to me to stand in what my deep self is hearing call about.
Love this!
May your words be just as lovely to you . . . and I can see from your post why mine resonates for you.
My word arrived this morning… I find that i need to give myself permission to REST … even as I wrote those words I cringed… I hope to lean into the truth that rest is good and not a weakness. So… let’s see how this presents in my life.. Thank you for always being a source of inspiration to me.
Blessings,
Kathy Plourde ~Gallatin, TN
Connection is my word for 2018. In the last months of 2017, I read about the legends of the ‘red thread’ that connects souls and leads us to those people an things that are meant to be in our lives. My path,then in 2018 will be to follow those red threads to connect with other and to connect with those creative places within my own soul.
My word came last night, driving home in a beautiful Christmas Eve snow. It is shalom, Peace, Be the light.
BELOVED. At first I thought this word too common. Surely this word wouldn’t choose me. I wanted something more unique. But It kept coming. First in the abstract painting I created that has been my best seller this year. Perhaps we all need to hear this his word! And then over and over I keep hearing. Be love. be. Loved. Beloved. And at the core, this is what I am longing to hear over and over again! And God must want to tell me over and over again. What a sweetness! Thank you For the invitation to find a word and the free online course! What a gift! Remember you are loved!
The word that chose me is “voice.” Too often I have been afraid to speak up, to hold my own. Too often I have not had confidence in my words, my worth, as a writer and as a person. This seems like the perfect word to challenge me in the coming year. Thank you so much for the invitation and the instruction to call forth a word.
My word came in a rush – I was preaching my Sunday sermon last week when I said – “Let there Be” as in the quote from Gen. 1:1. It was strange as it just took on a presence. Each day I am challenged: let there be reconciliation, Let there be forgiveness, Let there be peace, and today – let there be Christmas. Let there be …