One fresh approach to making new year’s resolutions that I
learned from Abbey of the Arts, a virtual global online monastery (see https://abbeyofthearts.com)
is to choose a word that will be my focus on in the coming year—“Something to
nourish me, challenge me, a word I can wrestle with and grow into.”
I considered choosing the word “balance,” but then I came
across this statement by Christine Valtners Paintner:
In St. Benedict’s description of
humility, he says the sixth step is contentment. Contentment helps us let go of
our expectations for what might be and to rest in the grace of what is. Finding
contentment with this moment is a very monastic practice and opens us to the
possibility of joy.”
The past two and a half years have included a lot of change for
me as I sold my house, found a new home for my cats, entered the monastery as a
postulant, transitioned from working at a job to being a student, began to
learn how to live in a community, became a novice, completed my canonical novitiate
year, made first profession of vows, moved from the formation house to the
monastery, and transitioned from being a student to editing new monastic and
medical publications. Now that I’ve completed those years of intense change, it’s
time to “rest in the grace of what is” and explore what contentment means:
being present to what each moment brings, releasing desires and expectations, entrusting
the direction of my path to the Spirit, and being open to joy. Exploring contentment
is more than enough to nourish and challenge me and is a word I hope to grow
into in the coming year.
Whatever word comes to define your life in 2019, may it be a
blessing to you!
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