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
CHOOSE
After two years of depression and inactivity, following retirement from pastoring a congregation I loved serving for a long time, I’ve come through a quiet time of focusing on the present, grieving, and letting go, to a time of movement and creativity. I am able to choose life and love, strength and creative work again. I also know I am chosen and loved by God and many people.
My word is “engage”. I like that we engage relationally with one another and with the world, but “engage” is also an active, get-it-done kind of word. I need to move forward in several areas of my life, and I am looking forward to ways in which this word will help me.
Two words this year: Magical Intimacy. I tried to shorten it to magic but that’s just not working ?.
My word is “write.” Writing has saved my life, and is likely to again.
Appreciate is my word. To appreciate everything and everyone encountered in 2018
Abide. To rest in the heart knowledge that the holy is already in me and with me
Abide was my word last year. It has many layers of meaning and I wrote about it for several days. A good word.
My word is “whole”. I’ve identified with Mary’s “virgin” archetype and rejoice in being wholly the person I am gifted to be.
My Word for 2018 will be “cultivate” I want to embrace this definition: to improve or develop by careful attention, training, or study : devote time and thought to
My word for 2018 is TRANSFORMATION.
Focus.
With laser-like focus I will achieve my goals in 2018. With gratitude for my ‘word’ I am moving into action, for without action energy dwindles and tends to stagnate. May God bless us all with His loving abundance and Mercy.
Focus was my word for 2017.