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 the year: Actualize — to bring into being, to produce
And my poem is a haiku
moving beyond dreams
to see plans actualized
in 2018
I did Haiku also. Love yours!
My word is Fresh. I discovered this quote from Howard Thurman in an old
journal and it knocked on my door: “Keep fresh before me the moments of
my high resolve.” I hope to focus on what makes those moments and all the moments in my life feel fresh
and real to me. Blessings to all in the coming year.
UNION.. a word that moves me beyond the constraints of my expectations and into the realm of freedom!
NOTICING…through this last year of recurrent illness I have found a finer presence, less grainy with clearer seeing. My spiritual director shared this word noticing with me, a practice of just NOTICING with curiosity. Noticing reverberated within. For me a beautiful practice to embrace over the coming year
JOY… as I carry this word throughout 2018, she will reveal her gentle wisdom of seeing her in all things… ( I am surprised this is the word but she feels right, and I look forward to the journey with her)
My word is “present” to be fully present in this life where we are so busy is an amazing challenge I am prepared to accept. Looking forward to discovering what this means for me and my life. I look forward to understanding where I have not been present and allowing God to show me how He would want me to change this.
Kindness is my word for 2018. I’ve been working at it for a while, but now, this exercise will help me to bring awareness to my words and actions to go in that direction.
Song is my word for 2018. There are two facets ; there is the listening for what makes my heart sing and my spirit soar. And then there is letting my own song pour forth from the well of that deeper song.
Stripping—getting closer to the necessary, the simple, the elemental.
Abundance is my word for the year.
I am looking forward to having a larger vegetable garden this spring. I want my new year to unfold with hopes of more flowers, more birds, and life around us. An abundance of love, family, friends, and life around us this year.