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 for 2018 is Joy. I didn’t feel this was the right word at first but over the past several days it just keeps coming back to me, shimmering along the edges of my life. I’m very blessed and live a “happy” life but I feel “joy” has a deeper meaning and look forward to discovering it over the next year.
Believe!
Expressive is my word for 2018. I’m thinking of all the forms of expressing my myself besides just the written and spoken word. I can expressive myself through movement, prayer, ritual, and teaching, to name a few.
“commitment to self” … my sense is – exactly what it means will unfold during the year – in other words … don’t have a clue … and that excites me. I am already experiencing it doing a delightful shape shifting sort of shimmering dance as since it announced itself to me (in no uncertain terms while doing the Lectio Divinia on my last years experiences) … I am realizing that to commit to self requires listening, honouring and expressing in a very compassionate and gentle authentic manner my heart, soul and body whispers … I am very curious as to what exactly It has in store for me. My sense is it is going to be quite an adventure.
Ground…Hovering
These came as one thought and fantastic invitation, a daring threshold of a door to unknown depths…as these grew I found the walk to reveal a fog hovering and uniting the ground, the visual capturing illumines these as one and the poetry has been a blessing to draw me further each day! May 2018 keeps us, Ground…Hovering!
“Open” is the word that came to me. The first words that spoke were “hello” and “welcome,” but those felt like precursors to the word that was to come. A friend said in conversation that we need to be open to new things if we are to grow. While I’ve heard that comment many times, the words rang truer and the word “open” rang the loudest. One morning, not long after, I woke up with the image of a moon gate, like those I saw at the gardens of Orsan in France. I keep that image close, for it reminds me to remain open; to have the courage to go through the green and vibrant portal to the opportunities waiting for me on the other side.
Trust—which emerged when I started to fear that no word would emerge! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e8a71955eedbbb25089a73cc0a89b52b135ca0f20dd6db2dccc4766a09193515.jpg
Love this! Fear vs Trust. I like Trust!!
I am on the cusp of finding my word but I am not going to force it. I did that last year & it was useless except as a lesson.
Anticipation
Outside the lace curtains and the frosted windowpane
dried brown leaves cling to the tall oak tree though
the blizzard has torn a few from its grasp.
They skirl by and lodge on dunes of snow
ochre blots against blue shadows.
High up the squirrels’ nest of densely packed twigs
sways in the wind yet remains firmly fixed in place.
I am wondering about both the squirrels and the roots.
Are they dormant or drawing out nourishment
from within and from the frozen soil?
Are they grasping each other with tender touch
and reaching towards other tentacles
like a mother’s hand on an infant’s face
or fingers reading braille
sensing what the future may hold
dreaming the long dream of winter
with hidden gestation and cracking seeds
and light glancing up from the snow
into the nest and through my window?
Dec. 30, 2017.
sufficient
-with the invitation to let be and to be with what is, to trust in the sufficiency of God’s provision