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)
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201 Responses
A word for 2025 might be ‘Communion’ thinking of Thomas Merton, “The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an older unity….we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And What we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.”
Grá mór 💚
I think that “heal” should be my word for the coming year. I’ve recently had one knee replaced and will soon have the other replaced, so there’s physical healing. There are also interpersonal relationships I would like to see healed. And I want to contribute to the healing of the earth, even if only in my own yard.
My word for 2025 is surrender.
A few nights ago, I saw the word Graza repeatedly. In my dream it was the name of an Italian town I was visiting. When I looked it up, I discovered it means Grace in Italian. When one says “Grazie” in Italian, it means thank you but is also the plural of Graza…so your gratitude speaks many graces over the person you are thanking. So , after several years of challenges, GRAZA it is, for 2025!
Resilient
My word for the year is Ipesity : the tender awareness of who you are beneath the surface, the roles you play and what is expected. I will work to honor and embrace the truth of who I am , whole and already enough. To simply be , deeply rooted in the present.
My word for this year (which, for me, began in Advent) is LISTEN.
LIGHT… be a light in the world. Personally, 2024 was a difficult year for me. And, the world over, it was a tough year… so much to break a heart. But this year has also been a creatively rewarding year, and I experienced a lot of inner growth and learning how to shine my light in better and new ways. This experience has inspired me to further explore this in 2025… To shine my light in a world that sometimes feels dark, and to help others be brave to shine their own light. :)
Selah is my word for 2025. 2024 has been a tumultuous year and the little word believed to mean pause and ponder is really speaking to me. i can’t take the year ahead off but I can stop here and there with intention, to pause
A Word for a New Year 2024
Joy
I know the sense of contentment within my marriage and our new home
I experience excitement when we plan new adventures
I feel gratitude for all of the many blessings in my life
I am proud of the loving kindness in my children’s hearts
Yet, I can’t quite name these experiences Joy!
I have begun to reflect upon Joy, specifically the question of what gives me Joy.
I wondered about the difference between Joy and many of the other feelings I experience.
I felt sad to realize that I don’t experience the feeling of Joy easily or as often as I thought.
I began to ask myself…What is Joy for me and how do I name it?
Maybe, a blending of contentment, gratitude and happiness equals Joy
Maybe, Joy ( for me ) is a whole body experience…something that I feel deep within my being.
Again, I ask myself when, where and how do I experience Joy? How do I get more of it?
Is it something I can share or is it a solo experience?
I have come to realize that being in the company of my grandchildren gives me Joy. Their smiles, personalities and the way they communicate with me is so very special. It is a blending of many feeling that in one word equates to true Joy.
It is being so totally present with a sense of wonder and awe, gratitude for the gift of their lives. That is Joy for me.
Nature is another way I can access the feeling of Joy. A sunrise with all of the promise of a new beginning and the miracle of Gods creation feels Joyful in my being.
I want more access to the sensation of Joy. I want to know how others experience Joy. I want to share my Joy and I want others to share theirs with me.
My word for this coming year is Joy!
Steadfastness