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
Ajar has been with me since right after Thanksgiving. As I, with the Innkeeper, my Advent companion slid the little window open in the door to the Inn, I was again reminded of the small opening to what is next – ajar.
Compassion
“Ease,” is my word. I’m not typically a word a year person, but journaling in these early days of 2026 the word “Ease” emerged and felt profound. To me it means to enter into the invitation before me with knowledge and context of my finiteness and limitations. It means also to trust that there is enough, I am enough, and I will not miss what is meant for me. In that framing, I can enter with ease in to whatever is before me in 2026.
Sing!
My word is flourish!
My word is grace. I will keep before me Rumi’s words: “a stretcher will come from grace to gather us up.”
My word for the year is: “I walk in Beauty”.
I have been participating in the “Give me a Word” retreat, and been contemplating another phrase for most of the retreat. It seemed evocative and interesting, and then, one morning as I stepped out of bed – “I walk in Beauty” jumped into my head.
I smiled and knew — this Beauty was calling me!
Blessings to all …🧡
As the sun rose to reveal a beautiful winter morning, my word for 2026 arrived in John O’Donahue’s poem, “For a New Beginning”. In 2025, I signed a contract to publish my first novel, and celebrated my 70th birthday. Working with the publisher to launch my book into the world in May, I find myself in a strange and exciting new world. Though it sometimes forces me out of my comfort zone, it all feels so right! The poem sums it perfectly, especially this verse:
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
My word for 2026 is UNFURL!
My word for 2026 is ENOUGH….All I have is all I need. May I look at what I already have and what it can bring to my life and others…living simply and contented.
My work is reverence
My word is PLACE. This word is an invitation to explore the often hidden spiritual and material places in my life right now. I will also be attentive to the events that “take place.”
This retreat was deeply meaningful for me. I appreciate the thoughtful care that went into its creation. Thank you💕