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
Floating
I need to exist in a leisurely way with the Freedom to Laugh, Openly Accepting Tantalizing Insights with Nature as my Guide.
Curious.
In this time of decisiveness, gentle curiosity seems to be an antidote for argument, anger, side-taking, and bitterness. By pursuing commonality through dialogue fueled by genuine curiosity and the desire to understand one another, diversity can be accepted, encouraged, and even embraced.
Thank you for reminding the power of curiosity.Our world needs, perhaps more than ever, genuine dialogue, with deep and intentional listening by all. When we truly hear the perspectives of others, we can begin the journey to peaceful living in community, peace among nations, and peace on earth. Curiosity and respectful dialogue are also the key to achieving the goals you list of understanding one another, celebrating and accepting diversity, and living together an one human family working toward the good of all. This is the work of “tikkun” or healing the world. Thanks again for this reminder. May curiosity and love abound this year!
Thanks for your comments Kevin. I like your words “intentional listening.” I think that somehow as a society, in our eagerness to self defend and justify our own points of view, we have lost the desire and skills for listening. I used to lead a dialogue group called “The Sunday News,” a weekly round table where people of varying faiths and political views came together to discuss the weekly headlines. Guided by great ground rules, the intent to listen instead of trying to convert, condemn, or convince, and a mediator, we established a safe place for real dialogue. We didn’t usually come to consensus, but we always came to mutual respect.
Btw, what’s your “word” this year?
Hello Robyn
Here is my post about my “word” for 2018:
My word for 2018 is guru. This Sanskrit word means “one who dispels
darkness and brings toward light.” For me guru has several meanings.
First, guru is the One who teaches all of us, who dispels darkness and
brings toward light. This guru is the absolute supreme being, creator,
and divine lover. This guru is the source of infinite love at the center
of the universe. In this sense, g)uru is God who is known by many
names. Second, guru is any person or thing that dispels darkness and
brings toward light. In this sense, guru can be a person Abraham, David,
Isaiah, Jesus, the Buddha, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Desmond Tutu, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, St. Francis, Mary); it could be
some sort of writing such as Scripture, other spiritual writing, an
autobiography (Frederick Douglas, Thomas Merton), a biography of the
life of a person who dispels darkness and leads others to the light (for
example, biographies about Saint Francis, Martin Luther, Albert
Einstein, Elie Wiesel), it could even be a novel, short story, poem, or
song (music). Third, I believe that I am being called to serve as a guru
to others. So whether these others are members of my family, my faith
community, my work, or simply other brothers and sisters with whom I
share planet earth. I will try to shine my little light in the darkness
this year. May 2018 be a year filled with less darkness and more light
and more love. Shalom.
relationship …. what is my relationship with myself, god, nature, others, the universe? pondering how we are all connected!
Sacred Belonging
Explore.
Gathering my curiosity and making the time to delve into old and new things I have long wanted to visit/revisit, see what is possible and true for me now.
Mystery
Cultivate – I am in a 2nd year of transition with my family. This year, I need to shift it from transition to cultivating growth from it.
ABIDE
As I’ve started my second year not living next to my church, I need to learn to stay where I am, and not take the half-mile walk downhill and up so often. When I am home, I need to be content just being and not always doing. Finally, this word is also the title of a book on lectio divina, which I should do more.
Grounded: To be present in this body, on this earth and not be overly focused on the mental and imaginary; also, to take nurturance and sustenance from the dirt of the earth.
Firefly — shines bright even in the darkest of times…