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
For Toni Murray:
REUNION! A word that came as I was awakening a few days ago, and has played on my heart since. A promise of spirit companionship with my recently deceased mother and other wise women saints? A promise of continued reacquaintance with family and friends after a year of shared grief? A suggestion of a journey to greater integration of heart & mind? I don’t know. I can’t imagine. All I know is I’m going. Peace to my family, friends, foes. -t
For Sally LaFaver:
My word is “Wonder” …. used as noun or verb …. as a compass for my journey.
For Susan Lees:
My word is delight, to delight myself in God in each moment and part of my life.
My word is: Enough.
Thank you for this opportunity to tarry and linger over possibilities these past days. I am deeply grateful.
My word is Grit. Consistency and intentionality to do the things I don’t want to do and to keep charging forward in my life when it feels pointless and without value. Grit to trudge through my daily disciplines even when the easier choice would be to simply sit back and relax in my own way.
My word is HOPE. I want to understand the way hope grows and can be offered to others.
Flow is my word. To release constriction with acceptance and trust.
I dwell in confusion
feeling the pull of my heart’s knowing
begging for courage to follow its call
This is a watercolor I created tonight with my word (as I po https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/61f3ce03971eb57d69de9818b1e3a33cd79eeeba12b89ce91a2a5121b770dead.jpg sted a couple days ago).
My Word is Perserverance. There is much that is unresolved and needs to be. Step by Step. Ingrid