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 4, 2026 and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below).
Read Christine’s book Give Me a Word: The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year for guidance and inspiration.
This book is designed to help you contemplate what holiness is birthing within your soul. Each day there are different practices 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 book, you will be invited to release your thinking mind and enter into a space of receiving.
WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ENTER BY JANUARY 4th!
- One person wins a space in the mini-retreat Brigid’s Day (Imbolc) Deep Rest Retreat ~ Emergence with Christine Valters Paintner, Deirdre Ní Chinnéide, and Nóirín Ní Riain
- Two people win a space in our upcoming Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist 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 11th we will announce the prize winners!
270 Responses
My word is “yes” and I will repeat it over and over because the world calls this from me
My word is Creation. It’s time move out my heart and souls energy into form and create offerings and programs for others .
Welcome.
Yesterday my word became certain for me. The four directions meditation I put to movement in my Qigong practice. Receiving From All Directions became a deeply spiritual experience where I found myself truly welcoming what I received. Transformational-much gratitude.
My word for 2026 is expansion. While I must faithfully do the work before me, expansion is not so much about going out to get something, but receiving, the way a balloon expands by taking in air. Confidently stepping into new and more opportunities to share my art, my story. Not shying away from taking up space. Connecting with more people. Working on bigger projects. Trusting that what’s meant for me will come.
Vitality ~ I’ve had 2& 1/2 years of some unknown gut problems. When my spiritualist pastor gifted me with the word, this past May, it echoed. It feels deeper and richer than ‘ healing ‘
Vitality ~ I’ve had 2& 1/2 years of some unknown gut problems. When my spiritualist pastor gifted me with the word, this past May, it echoed. It feels deeper and richer than ‘ healing ‘
My word for 2026 is simpliciy. This word has chosen me, so I’m not sure today what it may hold. I will be attentive to its’ unfolding.
thank you
“Home” is the word that keeps coming up. Meaning – a sense of belonging somewhere, a quiet and green place, sanctuary, home is wherever I am, an inviting space for quiet contemplation, a warm hearth with loving family around it (however one defines “family”). There are layers to this word. I have been on a pilgrimage towards “home” for a long time. Home in the universe; home within myself. Home is an inviting place with doors that beckon you in and doors that let you out. A question I hear with this word, “what does home look like to me?”. Have I ever found it, felt it, loved it, left it? So much material to work with in 2026.
My word is “lantern.” It is inspired by a line from Emily Dickinson’s letters, which Elif Shafak quoted on her substack this Solstice morning. Dickinson said “I am out with lanterns looking for myself.” I love the idea of that search as a part of the soul-pilgrim’s journey. Tracing the word lantern’s etymology, it is derived from the ancient Greek word meaning “to shine.” I want to look for light this coming year–my own and that of others. In a world that is in so many ways torn and broken, I want look for things the shininess hidden inside darkness.
My word is beloved. A deep, heart-level knowing that I am God’s beloved child sustains me, and equips me to be (God’s) love for others.