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 3, 2025 and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below).
Join our Give Me a Word Self-Study Retreat for guidance and inspiration.
This retreat is designed to help you contemplate what holiness is birthing within your soul. Each day there will be a different practice offered to inspire, challenge, and support you in listening for the word that wants to be spoken to your heart.
The practices are not about resolutions or goal setting, they are not about achieving more in the new year or accomplishing tasks or goals. They are about listening for what is calling to you in a particular season of life. They ask us to trust a greater wisdom at work in the world than our own egos.
Through this retreat, you will be invited to release your thinking mind and enter into a space of receiving.
Learn more here. Use code GMAW20 to take 20% off through December 31st.
WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ENTER BY JANUARY 5th!
- One person wins a space in the mini-retreat Holding Paradox: A Retreat with St. Brigid led by Simon de Voil
- Two people win a space in our upcoming A Midwinter God retreat
- Two people win a space each in their choice of Self-Study retreats
- Three people win a Dancing Monk Medallion
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 12th we will announce the prize winners!
201 Responses
My word for this New Year is COURAGE. May I grow in courage and all that it entails bit by bit each day.
My 2025 word is IMAGINATION, as a reminder to notice embers in the darkness and feel them warming our hearts.
My word for 2025 is choose.
On February 3, I will celebrate my 80th birthday. 2-3-45…that’s the date of my birth.
My word for this milestone year is REFLECT.
I intend to go inward, to reflect, to think deeply about my long life, the people I love and who love me, the significant places and experiences, and the meaning and purpose of it all. I hope I will reflect outward the light and love and gratitude I hold for all the blessings, all the lessons, all the growth, all the deepening.
Taproot
My word is BALANCE. My sister once questioned my spiritual stance as ‘sitting on the fence’; but later, turned to me as a person of balance. The word keeps popping up!
My word is STABILITY. To have this witihin myself, no matter what happens outside of me.
My word for 2025 is discovery.
My word is freedom. Letting go of the trappings of materialism and appreciating the gifts of connection to others and nature.
My word for 2025 is integration. This may take some adding, subtracting, evolving and reshaping to move toward a more holistic path.