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
SURRENDER
Seeing the possibility
Understanding that i can’t Run away
Running prevents mE from kNowing happiness
i don’t have to Do Everything.
Real peace
Humility…
H Heartfelt willingness to listen
U Understanding that holds and uplifts
M Mercy that bathes us all
I Insight that lands and lightens
L Love that holds and uplifts
T Tenderness that tempers each thought and action
Y Yes, Big Yes, x3, Joyfully consent each tick of the clock
Immersed
Immersed in community,
Immersed in life,
Greening.
Not perfect
but humble,
I am free.
Thank you, Christine.
I came late to this retreat and still juggling several words.
The one that most resonates at this time is — simplicity.
CONFIDENCE
Centered in starlight
Offering my heart openly
New insights
Found from the first
Inspiring insights
Delivered daily
Energy expanding
Never forgetting
Ceasing doubts
Everything is in me
Stretch
As high as the sky
As low as the earth
As boundless to the space before me
As limitless to the time in me
Stretch
To the right and feel what beholds me
To the left and be what embraces me
Stretch
Until the discomfort no longer holds
Until the tension snaps
And all that is left of the STRETCH
Is the thin veil where I lay on the threshold
becoming one
Melt Earth
Thank you so much for this wonderful retreat, much appreciated
Guide me through the labyrinth
Cast light on my footpath so that I might see clearly
When shadows fall help me be unafraid
Quicken my steps when I need
And heed me to slow down when I go astray
Help my mind and soul to remain focused on your LOVE
Be my constant guide throughout this life
Beyond the Beyond and Beyond that also
Praying
Unaware,
Realizing
God’s
Attention
To my
Innermost being, and me
Owning
Nothing