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
Endue
for some time, I have been asking, silently…… inwardly and outwardly, what spiritual gifts[s] I have been given. I am a nurse for over 40 years, but it doesn’t seem just about that.
Something……more deeper, more deeply connected to God.
It seems important for me to discover this.
Endue
My word/s for 2023 are FALLOWING and THEREFORE. I strongly sense I must be conscious of the FALLOWING and that it has a purpose ….. THEREFORE. THEREFORE feels very pregnant. Neither of these words shimmer on their own for me
My 2023 word is BEHOLD. My prayer is: help me to see as cried out by those who met Jesus on the journey. Go deeper Marianne and let flow what comes from that encounter.
My word is gentle flow- to breathe, to listen, to allow. I want to be open to things that are easy and have more fun on purpose.
RELEASE. This word speaks to me of freedom from hurt and pain and other things that constrain, into the the new and unknown. RELEASE.
[Submitted second time, hoping poem formatting would work.] BREATHE deepens me into the present moment and offered many messages to explore. Thanks to all the Abbey songs and chants which celebrate breath, ours, the Earth’s, and God’s.
Breath/No breath
Meet God at that edge
where no thought
is needed
Rest
Breathe Sabbath
pausing
to savor and stretch
Enter
Still turning
of spirals and tides
of creatures and cosmos
Allow
Inhale deep center
and wild edges
exhale and discern
Transform
The breath stream
of ancestors
into legacy
Hold lightly
All attachments, aversions
preconceptions, plans. . .
simply breathe
Embrace
Contentment and lament
inhaling and exhaling
with sighing and song
WELCOME. This word has started coming to me to help me accept whoever comes across my path just the way they are. When I do the judgments subside and I can discover some beauty.
BREATHE deepens me into the present moment and offered many messages to explore. Thanks to all the Abbey songs and chants which celebrate breath, ours, the Earth’s, and God’s.
Breath/No breath
Meet God at that edge
where no thought
is needed
Rest
Breathe Sabbath
pausing
to savor and stretch
Enter
Still turning
of spirals and tides
of creatures and cosmos
Allow
Inhale deep center
and wild edges
exhale and discern
Transform
The breath stream
of ancestors
into legacy
Hold lightly
All attachments, aversions
preconceptions, plans. . .
simply breathe
Embrace
Contentment and lament
inhaling and exhaling
with sighing and song
Self Power – accepting my power within
RIDE. This wild word speaks to occasional steering, pedaling, and braking; but most importantly, trusting and letting go. No more pushing the vehicle…time to RIDE.