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
Expectation
My word for 2025, as for the previous year, is Choose.
It is an important birthday year for me, and in the US, I dread the coming four years. I am reminded that in all of life I have a choice. I choose Hope. I choose Trust. And so on . . .
My word is Evergreen. It reflects who I am called to be, but also my need for rest and solitude.
As my word came to me this is what I wrote:
Winter Evergreen
During this midwinter time
I am drawn
down to my inner core and roots.
I rest from the wind and cold
warm and nourished in my sanctuary
Yet, there are voices calling to me.
Urging me to be an evergreen.
My branches welcoming arms
providing shelter from the cold and wind.
Quietly ever present.
Resurrection.
Recently I lost my mother due to Alzheimer’s dementia after caring for her for many years.
My hope for this new year and chapter of my life is to be and live as my True Self with new found joy and fulfilling purpose. A renewed state of being that is continuously transformed by faith, hope, and Love.
Wishing all a blessed new year.
Peace & Light
Bless you, Martha. I lost my mom in a similar way. After her passing I had a dream that she called me on the phone. When I asked her where she was, she replied: ‘I’m with Nastasia.” I subsequently learned that the name Nastasia means “Resurrection.” May you find resurrection in this new chapter of your life.
UNFOLDING
“I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” ~ John O’Donohue
My word for this year is Rethink. I’m opening myself to new ways of looking at my life and new perspectives
The word that came to me is Grace… and I’m ready to give it priority this year. Last year my word was humility. Grace feels like a dear companion of humility. I was also lead to take the 28 day writing retreat which I plan to start tomorrow. So I won’t be part of this amazing group yet I feel we all will be working with Spirits illuminating guidance . I pray to let the Word guide us to the words we most need to hear or share or ponder. Such love for our Abbess and her Abby.
My word for this year is “metanoia”, but not the common interpretation of the word as repentance but rather the original Greek meaning of a transformative change of heart, or spiritual conversion. My 31 year old son died from an aggressive cancer only 4 1/2 months after his diagnosis. My broken heart wants to transform and evolve into this new world I inhabit in my grief and metanoia is a perfect focus of prayer and meditation for me.
My word is PAUSE. To pause at a threshold before proceeding
My word this year is “curiosity”. I am reminded of the quote: “Be curious. Not judgmental”