Dear monks, artists, and pilgrims,
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 6, 2024 and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below).
WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ENTER BY JANUARY 6th!
- One space in our Love of Thousands online companion retreat to the book
- One space in our online Lent retreat on A Different Kind of Fast
- Two people win a space each in their choice of self-study retreats
- Three people will win a digital album of their choice.
- Three 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)
Winners will be announced on Sunday, January 12th.
If you would love a retreat experience to support you in listening for your word, letting your word ripen, and carrying your word into the year ahead, please join us for our Give Me a Word Advent and Christmas season retreat which begins today! I am joined by many wonderful guest teachers and there is a suggested practice for each day from now until Epiphany!
Join us tomorrow for our Contemplative Prayer Service where I will be joined by Simon de Voil and Polly Paton-Brown to reflect on the gifts of Mary for our journey.
With great and growing love,
Christine
Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE
P.S. We are delighted to announce the release of Birthing the Holy: Dancing with Mary and the Sacred Feminine! This digital collection of 12 dances and companion teaching videos by Betsey Beckman and guest artists offers another beautiful resource for engaging with the gifts of Mary.
Image paid license with Canva
233 Responses
My word for 2024 is Native. I did a pilgrimage to Iona in June, and the strong sense of being at home when I arrived there has given me much to reflect on. I want to know more of my ancestry as well as honor my native instincts and interests.
My word for 2024 is THIS. The word came to me very unexpectedly and I sensed Spirit showing me to be present and notice to what THIS is.
My word for the coming year is Sensory. I am feeling a call toward being more embodied, and am and setting some intentions (and phone alarms!) to experiment with some practices for coming into awareness (+slowness + presence + delight). I am learning that my senses are astonishing partners in that work! So I will seek the wisdom of my body, and I will seek to Be Here Now by paying attention to the information and invitations my senses offer me. Doesn’t that make good Sense? :)
My word for 2024 is RELEASE. Letting go of things, of old patterns of thinking and feeling that they don’t work anymore and in releasing them, it creates space to be a better person and to new possibilities
My word for 2024 is RELEASE. Letting go of things, of old patterns of thinking and feeling that they don’t work anymore in my life. So in their releasing I will find new space to grow and be a better person.
My word for 2024 is ‘rest’ – I am being told to recognise my own need to rest but I also have a sense that my resting will open ideas for others to rest, perhaps in Quiet Days ~ I wait for further guidance.
With great trepidation I accept the word “mystic” to accompany me through 2024.
Listening presence. This fell out of my mouth unbidden in a conversation with a soul friend, who is that for me. And I for her. It’s a simple yet elusive way of honouring our human and more than human kin.
My word for 2024 is “explore”! By going on “expeditions” by letting go of “expectations” by learning more about mosaic art “experimenting” by trying new things “experiences”… 😊♥️
Contented Gratitude. Not only do I want to practice gratitude more often, I want it to be content vs grudging.