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
My word as I move into retirement this year is spaciousness.
It came to me like a bolt from the blue on the way to church this morning, after having not a single inkling as we led up to today: “fully alive,” as in “the glory of God is man (woman, in my case) fully alive.” — St Irenaeus
No idea how that popped up when it did, but it’s so clearly my word!
My word, a practice really: See Anew
to see anew
is to be transformed
by each excitation of creation
I encounter on my journey
My phrase is sea change.
My Word for 2023 is “Hovering”. God’s Spirit hovers over all creation, all I see, my aging life, my family, beauty in nature, and all the chaos in the world. What a wonderful comfort that is–such a promise of life giving water of flowing, loving, continuing Presence.
My word is Alive, but I have been most amazed by the process and the succession of words that arose as possibilities. Alive was the only one that I could write a poem with.
A New Year’s Prayer
Aware of the fragility
of life and the
inevitability of death
I choose to
Live each day
as fully as possible
to savor the gifts
You have bestowed
In gratitude for
the full range of human
emotion and Your presence
in the hardest times I
Venture into the coming year
eyes bright with anticipation
ears attentive to Your voice
mouth ready to sing Your praise
Eager to explore
the next chapter
open to the Spirit’s breath
within and through me
My word is Faith
My word for 2023 is “Listen…”
My word for 2023 is “purgation,” a need to purge myself of outdated and negative habits, and unquenching thoughts…..a need for inner cleansing.
My Wors for 2023 is “Hovering”. The Spirit of God is hovering over all I see, over all chaos in this world, and over my life. So comforting–Such a life- giving promose of Loving Presence.