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
In 2015 my word was “heart.” My word for 2016 was “home.” In 2017 the word is “love.” All three will play together this year!
The word that has chosen me is illuminate. The word itself is beautiful to hear in my ears for
for some reason. It speaks to me of the deepest part of the soul where the light shines in
unobtrusive ways. A continuous subtle seeing of reality that sparks love to flow in and
out of this sacred dwelling without limitations.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f78dad88ff494840787495fe978e3f1d81e8cf719b048255f0909e331c0221eb.jpg I previously wrote that my word for 2018 was my sacred word from my contemplation prayer that I had started using in 2017 — TRUST.
That word is powerful and it is the doorway/threshold to other powerful words! TRUST will continue to be my sacred word, but
it has opened the path for my goal word for 2018 — COURAGE.
Technically two words, or perhaps a compound word? Mine is self-honour. I want to learn to honour my sacred self so that I can live from that place in all my relationships.
My word is “threshold.” For the past eight months or so, I’ve been hearing a call to change. I have just now created some new space by cutting back my work life, and I am standing in an open door, not sure yet where the path will take me.
I’ve been participating in Entering Winter’s Womb, an online Winter Solstice women’s retreat, and found rich, fertile ground for my word to grow in. When I started “Give Me a Word” this year, I had three words pop up: Womb, Journey, Be. Journey has chosen me. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fda1bf57f2d9b6041a531b3f79a4c6b5f54b648ecd720a4150be744f3294dfeb.jpg
I continue to do the daily exercises even though my word – caregiver – chose me the very first day. Tonight, I re-read the Monk Manifesto and realized that it is the gift/context within which I will move forward into the new year and my new role as caregiver.
Each Advent is waiting and listening time for a word for me. I have been sitting with what I think is my invitation for 2018 for over a week now, and am pretty sure GIVEN has chosen me. I think it has to do with living into what is present, being awake and alert to what IS. But I also know it’s just a glimmer of what is to come with its work in me this next year.
I think the word that is choosing me is Anticipation. It encompasses openness to new experiences, curiosity, eagerness, good humour, timeliness, patience, persistence, faith, trust, self-awareness, awareness of the world around me, groundedness, spiritual connection, and connection to the earth. A wonderful lectionary to take with me in 2018!?
A few words have presented themselves to me over this sacred time, each calling to me in different ways and expressing something I need and want to grow into more fully in 2018. The word I’m sharing here is ‘Wonder’ – rather than worrying or hoping or wishing, I’m going to try to bring more of a spirit of open, childlike curiosity into the new year and ‘wonder’ what will happen. To look with eyes of wonder; to come afresh to experiences with a joyous expectancy of beauty and magic just around every corner.