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
Revelation — Ready to See – Everything God Desires – Vivid Light and Life and Truth – Eternal Truths -Lovingly Embraced – Already before me – Today is a new beginning – Into the night I go – Onto the Shores I Arrive – Now at Peace – Shalom. The poem hardly a work of a writer; yet these words just tumbled forth. I am so looking forward to this New Year and the Revelations
STABILITY. Surprising – I could tell it chose me, because it wasn’t one I might have chosen myself! I spent a couple of days waiting for another, until I started spotting stability everywhere. Thank you, this was a wonderful process.
I tried to force my word by choosing what I thought it should be. None of my words felt right. Then one morning the word “beauty” just softly floated into my mind. I allowed the word beauty to encompass me and I felt what I think is the essence of beauty. On my drive to work my vision and actions were changed by this essence. My whole day was different than the usual pre Christmas day of a retail mgr. I look forward to exploring this next year with beauty as my companion.
Many other words shimmered along the way, but my word is Embody. Its etymology goes back to the 1500s, “in reference to a soul or spirit invested with a physical form.” For me now, it means taking what’s inside me – what I know, believe, value – and manifesting it in the outer world. Living my artist self. Living my beliefs. Living my connection with the earth and with this new land where I am grounding. Living in and loving my body as it ages.
I want to explain the source of my “word” and why it has chosen me. The “word” comes from a modern poetic translation of the Oddessey. I am not a traveller. I use the concept “journeys” metaphorically. I have explored many different religions both as an interested person and as a teacher of comparative religion. Still I always thought of the religion of my birth as the native language or my soul. But given all my exploring and questioning I have decided that the genuine native language of my soul is questioning. My other “word” which I found in my teen-age years was “All science, all religion began with the innovator, the non-conformist, the heretic.” So Heresy has been my native language but I am not simply a doubter—I am an explorer and I learn and gain from each exploration so:
SOUL: JOURNIES HAVE BEEN YOUR NATIVE LAND.
From Carol Ochs
SIMPLICITY
From Genevieve Cassani
The word that finally settled is Guide Lines. First it was dare, then risk, then choice. But when Guide Lines arrived, my body relaxed, my mind cleared, my spirit rose. A guide line guides me forward, keeps me from getting lost, is trustworthy as I travel into the unknown, is not judgmental, aligns me to the path ahead. I just need to hang on!
The word that has chosen me is “be”. At first of was “belong”, then “being”, then “beloved”, but at the root of them all was this little word that sums them all up.
I thought my word was Paradox, but it lacked a certain grace, I thought. Then in participating in Lynn Jericho’s annual offering of “Inner Christmas” with meditations for each of the Holy Nights, I realized this year’s theme of Wonder incorporates the dance between the Opposites. Voila. I am choosing the word Wonder, and Wonder chose me.
I have been called to the word GROUNDING
It feels just right for this time and place