Daily Compass

Inspiration: 

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. 

–Frederick Buechner 

Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC

After centuries of handling and mishandling, most religious words have become so shopworn nobody’s much interested any more. Not so with grace, for some reason. Mysteriously, even derivatives like gracious and graceful still have some of the bloom left.

Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There’s no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about, any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.

A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. Have you ever tried to love somebody?

The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you.

There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and touch it is a gift, too.

by Frederick Buechner, from Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

Life is a tragedy full of joy.
–Bernard Malamud 

Loving-Kindness Meditation

At times of loss and uncertainty, the loving-kindness meditation may remind us to be kind to ourselves. Find a comfortable position, close your eyes and breathe deeply. Repeat to yourself:

May I be filled with loving-kindness.
May I live in safety.
May I be happy.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
Then envision someone in your life and repeat to yourself:
May you be filled with loving-kindness.
May you live in safety.
May you be happy.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
You can repeat this several times with different people, both those close to you and those you find difficult. As you come to the end of your meditation, repeat these phrases:
May all beings, everywhere be filled with loving-kindness.
May all beings, everywhere live in safety.
May all beings, everywhere be happy.
May all beings, everywhere be peaceful and at ease.

Go in peace, my friend. You are not what you do. May you know that you are worthy and held in love. May you be filled with loving-kindness.

By Rev. Dr. Kathryn Ellis, Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia, PA. TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.
–William Wordsworth 

We Are All About Saving Souls

What are we doing here? What is our business? The answer is simple: we are in the business of saving souls. You heard me right: what we are about is saving souls.

Those of us who have had any brush with evangelical religion in our lives are apt to have an instantaneous negative reaction to that assertion. Soul-saving? Our business? Not us!

BY REV. SUZANNE MEYER, (1953-2010) TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
–Mother Teresa 

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

Most of us look for love in only the most obvious places, and as a result, most of us come away disappointed. It’s as if we are still grade school kids, counting valentines as a measure of what matters. The love that matters is not typically the subject of sonnets or love songs.

Some of the most loving things I’ve ever experienced I haven’t been ready for, wasn’t looking for, and nearly didn’t recognize. A few of them I didn’t want. But all of them have changed me, transformed some part of me, filled in a place that I didn’t even know was empty.

by David S. Blanchard, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton, New York  TO READ MORE  

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Inspiration: 

Teach me gratitude, that I may know joy.

Gratitude

Gratitude is not about the things you do or do not receive. It is about a relationship. We are here on earth, at least partially, to practice empathy, to honor honest work and to ceaselessly embody that central Universalist principle, the dignity and worth of all human beings. This practice of radical equality is measured by the respect with which you treat others, and by the kindness in your heart. And then comes the leap. When you become the giver of kindness you are more likely to become aware of the kindness flowing towards you. You learn gratitude not only for the kindness of those around you, but also for the source of kindness described by the psalmist. Some of us call this source of all life and goodness and love by the name of God. Some of us call the sense of the whole of life a mysterious reality that cannot be named.

…In the midst of imperfection we can pray to be given a grateful heart. Grateful for the gift of life. Grateful for the opportunities of this day to come closer to what is real and sustaining. Grateful that no matter how far we wander, or how many times we stumble, grace will find us and we will be blessed.

by Barbara Merritt, Minister Emerita, First Unitarian Church Of Worcester, Massachusetts  TO READ MORE  

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