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 Softer as I move forward
‘let go.release.surrender’ . It is time to let those habits which no longer nourish me drop by the wayside, so the Holy might erupt in surprising ways again.
Return Again, is my word thru love, grace and gratitude as a threshold
Joy—I’d like to spend more energy noticing small joys every day.
My word for 2026 is REVEAL – it means all is healed and up tapped gifts and talents are growing and unfolding as I know myself more deeply as LOVE
My word is attend, meaning to be present, to pay attention, to enter into and be swept up by the whirling ‘spirit that works at divining us and our world.
PACE- there’s an ACE In pACE. When I go at my ever changing pace at the moment I am more aware, and balanced.
My word is a phrase that keeps inviting me. It is from Matthew 11:30 in the Message: “live freely and lightly”. The whole verse says I’ll learn to do this by keeping company with Jesus. That’s my desire, that he would transform me as I spend time with him so I can more often live freely and lightly.
My word is Open Heart. I realize that I live too much in the head/ego space. My intention is to live more from my True Self (soul).
My word for 2026 is ENOUGH. I will trust my inner voice to tell me that “I’ve had enough,” and when “I have given enough.” It will guide me to be conscious about what I consume (foods, content, material goods) and to be careful with my resources (time, energy, finances, attention). It will remind me to be confident in my own worth—protecting my boundaries, accepting my imperfections, and pursuing my passions without apology. “I am enough!”