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
The words interviewing for the job of Heather’s sacred word for 2024 were: unhobbled, cultivate and tend. And the winner is TEND!
As a full time care giver for my 81 year old mother I need to be tender in my interactions rather than impatient or resentful. I need to allow others to tend to me so I don’t get burnt out and allow myself to rest in the arms of my Good Shepherd. I’m looking forward to my first garden ever and am excited to tend a VERY small selection of flowers herbs and veggies. I hope to tend my friendships. Tend and Mend …
Shammash is the word that flared for me. An invitation for me to embrace the light of Spirit and in turn offer light to others.
HUMMING is my word for 2024. “Set every peak and valley humming with the word the Lord is coming….”
My word for 2024 is establish.
I’m praying:
Establish us deep in Love.
Thank you all for this lovely, encouraging retreat.
I have been chosen by “expand”. I have an inkling why it chose me but am anticipating what it will unfold for me this year!
RADIANCE!
-peace, acceptance, leaping into the dazzle as my beloved returns HOME. Readiness. Wholeheartedness. RADIANCE! …. this word has filled me with quiet joy and given me more courage than the word courage ever could. It arrived on New Year’s Day when the calendar ahead is so very hard to look at. Radiance arrived after deep meditation and stillness for days. I am so grateful for this community and Chairos.
My word for 2024 is TRUST
My word which chose me is “magic” A new year which comes in a time of unrest in the world and I found myself in the different readings coming back to something under the layers of the ordinary. Seeking to see the magic in the everyday, in nature and earthly home as well as something just beyond.
The word that has been stirring in me for 2024 is UNFOLDING.
“I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” ~ John O’Donohue
What a beautifully wild shimmering invitation to surrender to the mystery of 2024!
My word for the year is “surrender.” I choose to see it as the positive version that helps me let go of resistance. But I know it will emerge in ways I can’t predict. Thus the surrender!