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 Sustain me. Over Christmas I heard this word within a hymn at church and it stood out to me and speaks to me of my ongoing desire for the Divine in my life.
Sharon
My word in 2026 is restraint. I’m finding it to be a challenging word to practice, but it seems to be falling into alignment with other movements of the Spirit I’m experiencing.
I ask for and receive a word each year..last year’s was Courage. I am still contemplating how that word worked through my life in 2025.
This year, the word that kept bubbling up is Contentment. Not the most aspirational word maybe…but I am looking forward to what Contentment is in store for me in 2026.
Transform
This word has been with me for the past week – jumping out from pages, prayers and poems. Noticing what I’m noticing, I’m sitting with it.
My word is inner knowing.
This inner knowing is the place of silent struggles, honest conversation with God and myself, and joyous acceptance of who I am becoming. It is crossing that threshold to deep peace.
What is the MEDICINE I can offer in 2026? I’m still pondering this, but I think it means how can I bring hope and healing to a bruised world.
Welcome is my word
My word for the year is forever. I have been me forever. My divine soul endures forever. My love, like all true love, goes on forever. God and the immortal holy ones have been and will be here for me, with me, in me, forever.
My word is RESTRAINT! I choose this word as a guide for living simply.
My word/phrase for 2026 is “release the artist”.