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 for 2026 is Hope. Hope is an act of resistance and I am going to rely on that during this challenging time.
My word for the year is REST
My word is ‘Abide’
Steadfast is my word
For 2026
Ancestors
My word for 2026 is WONDER.
After a year of sitting with dwell and last year exploring “rest,” this year I was directed by many things to ponder on the word SAVOR. So far it has been serving as a reminder to lean into the richness of eqch moment and truly to be where I am planted in that moment.
My word of the year is ‘relinquish’. My 3 kitties and I are in the process of leaving 23 acres I have lived on for 45 years and a house I had built 35 years ago and moving into town. I am now 71 and feel the time has come to relinquish this place into younger hands to care and maintain it. I have a found a garden home in town that I really like where outside maintained is provided but also it has a patio where I can putter with dirt and plants and build my kitties a catio where they can safely have some outside space. Relinquish carries a deeper meaning somehow than just leaving or letting go. And as I have pondered this word, I am realizing that it can apply to much more than just physical things as I am aging. I have much to ponder over the next weeks and months as I journey through this transition, holding my great sadness, but also my anticipation gently.
The word that was given to me is Second Wind. I turn 80 this year and am in need of refreshed energy for this next part if the way Home.
My word is possibility.