Christine Vaulters Paintner, the online Abbess from Abbey of the Arts, put out the challenge to ask for a "word" for the year. It sounded reasonable, and I am a "word" person, being a writer, reader and language teacher. So I put my own wisdom and directed thought processes aside and "asked for a word." Here is what came next:
INFINITE: That is the word that gave itself to me. Funny how in awaiting a gift my expectation is for something small, humble, manageable. How can I embrace this huge and generous word? Maybe God knows my tendency to pull my petals inward in self-protection, to sift all the possibilities through my screen of self-imposed limitations. Here I go, trusting in new ways, standing open-armed beneath the night sky ready to be gifted limitlessly with enough stardust to make each day sparkle in unexpected ways.
