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
Threshing
I read in a blog by Heather Platt that this word comes from threshold and it means separating the wheat from the chaff. This resonates so much more than the word I was feeling of streamlining.
My word is “gather” and i am looking forward to gathering people, thoughts, prayers, poems, flowers, and photos…….I began with socks on January 2 because all my favorites were in the laundry and most others were scattered…
My word is “Fly.” I lost my husband three years ago and have been trying to discern who I am as a single woman after spending 48 years with a soul partner. I just retired and it’s time to get out and fly. I live on 80 acres of forest ground in the middle of nowhere and it’s easy to shut out the world. However, I also know my emotional health needs “flying time” and so here I come 2024 with wings stretched wide!!
My word is “gather” and I’m looking forward to gathering thoughts, people, poems, flowers, photos, and infinitely more……I began with socks on January 2 because all my favorites were in the laundry and most others were scattered!
My word is Hearth, here’s what I shared on socials:
Hearth
1: a brick, stone, or concrete area in front of a fireplace
Also: fireplace
2: Home
“longed for the comforts of hearth and home”
3: a vital or creative center
This year’s word is both tangible and not so much. The word hearth has always been an important word for me. It brings about the feeling of a safe cozy home. And that’s been my goal for a few years now, to have a home for myself and my family/friends where they feel loved, cared for, and peaceful when they are here. It’s abstract to focus on one’s home while also very intentional. It’s also no surprise that any word that means “home” is going to resonate with me career-wise as this is THE YEAR we provide actual safe places that people to call home not just outside of our organization with partner landlords, but with our own conversion of apartments into Thrive Studios by Hope Partnership.
But that last definition “a vital or creative center.” That just blew me away. The hearth is also a place we can go inwardly. A place where deep introspection, inspiration, and hope dwell. And it’s not only a nice thought – the definition says it is vital. And I need to find ways to find that creative center inside myself – whether it’s travel, my spiritual life, time alone to refocus and regroup, or just being with my family and friends. I need a vital and creative center to keep moving forward.
So here’s to a year of connecting with the vital and creative center, making a home for myself and others that is a safe place, and also I’d like to just fix the fireplace in my house – which is my actual hearth room and needs repaired!
Wonder
My word is possibility.
My word is BIRTH. I am literally giving birth to my first child this year, but also being born into a new identity as a mother and hoping to birth a new creative project as well ❤️
Becoming came to me during Simon’s Chants and Prayers for healing. As our threshold time continues we are in the middle of buying a house and moving into our retirement house. Our youngest son is living with us as he figures out his plan B following his withdrawal from a PhD program in mathematics. So there is a lot going on and yet we are becoming who God is calling us to be in my retirement.
My word is EMBODY. I need to better appreciate and care for my body. I hope to feel more alive and act from the heart, instead of overthinking.