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 this year is simply YES!
I’m offering my full self to what this year brings and to the Presence of Love, even in my unknowing and uncertainty, I trust His goodness.
I have been chosen by the word “OPEN.” So much is opening to and within me, and I choose to be open to all possibilities, to all guidance, and instruction.
Several words showed up for me- like longing and sound and sacred but when “create” showed up i knew it was my word. It feels like the umbrella or mother word and all those other words are the children of “Create”. And it makes sense as i am drawn to take art classes and make gifts and find a way to create in everything i do.
My word is fearlessly. I realized that I have become more anxious, these last couple years and fear only holds me back. My mantra will be: May I know myself. May I know ALL of me, lovingly…bravely…deeply.
Blessings to you all,
Darlene
My word is Savor. It arrived early and each day, the various ways in which it is potent and meaningful became clear. It is a practice, too, in and of itself.
My word is “receptivity.” It arrived like a thunderbolt, clear and strong, in my daily zoom meditation group, during someone’s reading of a poem. I had had several related options but wasn’t sure where to go until that moment. It was an emotional experience.
My phrase is “at the right time”. It came to me as I reflected on the death of my father and the start of some child care for my baby/toddler grandson. More widely the phrase says to me that changes and transitions in daily life will come “at the right time”
Interestingly, my word is “doorway.” Perhaps it is an offshoot of “threshold.” When I said to a friend, “Hmmm… Am I a doorway? Am I in a doorway? Am I to find one?” Her reply: “ Perhaps all of the above.” Indeed…
“Behold”! My tiptoes are touching the threshold of a new thing, pondered and prayed for during a long dark and silent season.
My word continues to arrive at Womb. My daily practice will be to dive deep into my body every morning, descend into the darkness where all is rebirthed. Thank you.
beautiful!