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
“Be still”… Affirmed repeatedly especially when I tried to move from it. Many other words came to mind but each fell aside. All good words but not mine. Blessings to all in the new year.
My word last year was “chains”. My word this year is “free”.
My word is “Listen”…listen in silence of prayer, listen in the fresh morning air, listen in the car, at home. Listen in the crowds, listen alone within and without…
Silence. As in “Be still and know that I am God. And “God speaks the language of silence.”
In my spiritual life, i need to spend more time being silent. Not just reading more and more reflections, meditations, etc that in turn cause my mind to be more active.
In my personal life, I tend to be reactive to people and things that frustrate me…push my buttons. Silence is my reminder to pause, breathe, and respond intentionally.
Wisdom. I just celebrated my 65th birthday. It is now time for me to seek to know and grow into the Holy Wisdom God has already implanted in me, and acknowledge it with gratitude. And to grow in God’s grace.
The world I was given is “reconcile” as in- “cause to coexist in harmony; make or show to be compatible.” This is in regards to reconciling my past with my present (and, probably, my future) in Christ.
I thought first that it was “remember” because of some events conversations and dreams, but the true word sort of jumped on me in prayer. His voice also added greater purpose and direction to what I was discerning. In His way He spoke, “I don’t just want to rehash what happened, I want to heal and show that your life is one continuous story, whose parts hold together.”
Amen, Lord Jesus.
Twelve days is hardly enough, is it?
Coincidentally (?) the day for consulting a soul friend was a day that already had an appointment with my spiritual director. In his fashion, he wouldn’t give me a “word” but in our conversation one emerged. I didn’t like it much, but it seems the The Word:
Struggle.
Here’s a quick acrostic I wrote to this last day’s prompt:
Seeds need
To burst.
Remember Jacob’s
Ugly wrestle.
Growing is bursting.
Greet the wrestling angel.
Limping is grace
Eventually.
Oneness. That all may be One in the Spirit and brought to complete Unity.
My word is Peace. As I move forth into 2018 it is the word that will challenge me and hopefully that I can grow into more deeply.
I am strongly drawn to Rilke’s poem ‘Go to the limits of your longing’ and especially this part (it was impossible to choose one word this year):
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
(I suspect every part of the year might have a different flavour, all beautifully captured by his words).