In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to the divine 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, 2023 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, we are 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, December 11th email and at the bottom of each Sunday following).
WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ENTER BY JANUARY 5th!
- One person wins a space in our Lent retreat on A Different Kind of Fast
- Three people win a space each in their choice of self-study retreats
- Five people win their choice of one of our digital albums
- Seven people win one of our Dancing Monk Medallions
Please share your word with us in the comments below
(and it would be wonderful if you included a sentence about what it means for you)
Subscribe to the Abbey of the Arts newsletter to receive ongoing inspiration in your in-box. You can choose daily, weekly, or monthly. Share the love with others and invite them to participate. Then stay tuned – on January 8th we will announce the prize winners!
475 Responses
RECEIVE … Navigating an ongoing health challenge has opened my heart to this gift . I am learning to receive from my partner… friends … AND from Divine Love .
I am humbled …
My word for 2023 is Dream. You’re never too old to dream.
The word that came to me was sustenance.
And I found this verse in 1, Timothy 6:8-18 “But having sustenance and covering, we will be content with these.”
I sense (after this year, 2022) that the word will help me to look for and appreciate what is really important in life. This verse as my mantra in the new year, will help me to stay grounded and grateful.
Thank you for offering these 12-days, I really enjoyed it.
My word is FLOAT, as in Hildegard of Bingen’s “I am a feather on the breath of God.” For me, it’s about letting go of fear, resistance and control. Allowing myself to be led in radical acceptance and perfect love.
My word is ‘Do’. Following a spinal cord injury 7 years ago, I let myself become so undisciplined. No real job, I’m in need of care, my body is broken. BUT 7 years later, I’m tired of being bored, I’m sick of making lists for what I will do, I’m annoyed at my own stagnancy. I desire for 2023 to be a year where I go and I do. I still have so much I *can* do, and I do want to live a full life.
My word is communion
My word(phrase) is New Strength.
My prayer:
Welcome New Strength. I yield to you.
UNSEEN
because God, unseen, is taking form
My word is “adjust;” it blared loudly at me like a foghorn during a meditation, and I knew that was my 2023 word. Thank you for this 12 day guided process which has been very useful and fun.
My word for 2023 is
Gentle
My hope is to be gentle with myself, others and all of creation