Daily Compass

Inspiration:

 

If you want to shrink something,
You must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
You must first allow it to flourish.
If you want to take something,
You must first allow it to be given.
This is called the subtle perception
Of the way things are.  

―Tao Te Ching, Translated by Stephen Mitchell

Passover

Transformation is at the heart of the two major holidays of this month, Passover and Easter. Passover is the story of how one man, Moses, transforms from a tongue-tied sheep herder into a leader of the Hebrew people. But more than that, Passover is the story of how the Hebrews, a group of people living in slavery to the Egyptians, transformed themselves into the Jewish people, a people with a religion and a relationship with God and eventually a land that was their own.

This transformation of the Hebrew people doesn’t happen overnight. They aren’t transformed the moment they escape from Egypt, or when they reach the opposite shore of the Red Sea that had miraculously opened up to make a path for them. They aren’t transformed when they see God going before them as a pillar in the desert, and they aren’t even transformed when Moses brings down from the mountaintop the stone tablets containing the rules that God has set for them. They’re transformed as they go along, and no one can really say at what moment it happens…

There’s no single moment when they get enlightened or perfected. They just stumble around in the desert for forty years, and over all that time something…shifts. They become freer, more responsible for themselves, more able to be in relationship with God. They transform. Not from bad or stupid people into perfect people, but from Hebrew slaves to Jewish people in a covenanted relationship with their God.

BY LYNN UNGAR, MINISTER FOR LIFESPAN LEARNING, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP TO READ MORE

Inspiration:

 

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

–Charles Darwin

 

Reaching Beyond

Freedom begets vision. Vision leads to change. To embrace change means welcoming someone with an open mind and responding with interest to different behavior or beliefs rather than with a raised eyebrow, frozen smile, and silence. See that reaction for what it is—a sophisticated way of masking fear. Hold that fear at bay and let your heart lead the way. Change means discomfort, and because of that discomfort, some people will leave.

They have in the past and will again. Let them go. For those who remain and commit, the discomfort becomes bearable when we recognize that it is for our benefit, that transformation is its result.

by Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed. TO READ MORE

Inspiration:

Spirit of Wholeness, help me to nurture what is whole and what is holy, making room for those seeds of health to grow. 

 

 

 

Born Again… and Again… and Again

You’ve all heard the expression “born again.” “Born again” is one way that religious people describe this experience of transformation…On this issue of being born again, I come down on the side of ee cummings, who once wrote: “We can never be born enough.” We can never be born enough. The soul—the curious soul, at least, the alive soul—always longs to be made new. To be ever-more whole. To be reborn. Not because we were born wrong the first time, but because we grow and learn and change. And so my wish for us is that we be born again…and again…and again. 

by Robert Hardies, Senior Minister, All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, D.C. TO READ MORE

Inspiration:

 

Why is it harder to change your mind than change your clothes?

 

 

 

On Pilgrimage

Most of them were barefoot,
having walked dozens, if not hundreds, of miles
through forests and towns
with nothing but a small bundle carried on their heads:
a sheet, toothbrush, book of teachings,
a change of underwear, a little food and water.
Their robes were black or orange or red,
pilgrims coming from all over southern India
throughout the warm winter season.
For me it was Christmas Day, 1990.
For them it was a journey of epic proportions,
soliciting the blessing of Lord Ayappa.
Many chanted, some meditated quietly;
all were on pilgrimage to Sabarimala.
Never were Indian men so exuberant,
having left the routines of their lives.
Their eyes shined with anticipation
as they cheerfully greeted others.
This was a luminous time in their lives.
On pilgrimage, they were open to change.

by Alan Taylor, Senior Minister, Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Oak Park, Illinois TO READ MORE

Inspiration:

 

 

I open my heart to the possibilities unfolding within and around me.

 

 

Welcoming the Stranger

Our lives are changing, and I’m sure they will continue to do so for quite some time. Opening up your home to someone can be challenging, and I’m more aware than ever before how true that is when it comes to preparing for a new baby. Our second bedroom is slowly (very slowly) becoming a nursery, and friends have already given us some items we will need. We will soon, even more than we have already, open our lives up to this little person who is coming.

It’s in that openness that we are transformed. That’s the thing; so often we think of hospitality as being about the guest. It is. But it’s also about the host and how the practice can change us. I know we will be changed in ways we can’t even imagine by our coming child. I hope it changes us for the better, even as we struggle with little sleep, even less money, and a presence in our lives that will radically change so much.

I hope that change is for the better; that our little one, not just a guest we are welcoming but a new person in our house and our hearts, will open us up to new possibilities and awaken new realities.

By Christian Schmidt, Intern Minister at the First Parish in Needham TO READ MORE

Join us at 1:30 pm ET tonight for our service of Reflection & Connection: http://www.livestream.com/questformeaning