Today!
The NEW Daily Compass, inspiration for your spiritual expedition. We’re back from vacation and raring to go. Each day, we will post a daily reflection and thought-provoking question. We hope you will find food for thought and a moment’s peace each day. Subscribe at the bottom of this page.
The Daily Compass will be back in September with a new, updated look and original content. Until then, enjoy other inspiration by the Church of the Larger Fellowship:
UU Collective — essays by prominent writers for the CLF
Daily Reflections — a Quest for Meaning blog
Quest for Meaning Video — our channel on youtube with great videos
Livestream On Demand — full Quest for Meaning worship services, on demand
You can also find us on Facebook
The Daily Compass will be on vacation for the rest of the summer. Come back after Labor Day to experience a new and better dose of daily inspiration!
Who or what truly, deeply, makes you laugh?
Rational Exuberance
In the Jewish tradition, there is a teaching that on judgment day, each person will be asked why she did not enjoy life’s pleasures more.
Kay Redfield Jamison warns, “Exuberance and joy are fragile matters. Bubbles burst; a wince of disapproval can cut dead a whistle or abort a cartwheel.” Let us resolve not to wince at exuberance, not to cast disapproval at those who are harmlessly cavorting and rejoicing. Let’s practice exuberance, and support it wherever we may find it.
Sisters and brothers, I believe that God loves you very much. I believe that you have within you a beautiful wild woman or man who wants to embrace life in all its fullness. I believe that that desire to embrace life is a divine gift. That longing to connect, that longing to give your gifts to a hurting world, that longing to kick up your heels and laugh till you cry, or even infect your whole village with laughter—give in to it.
BY AMANDA L. AIKMAN, CONSULTING MINISTER, SKAGIT UU FELLOWSHIP, MOUNT VERNON, WASHINGTON, AND SOUTH FRASER UNITARIAN CONGREGATION, SURREY, BRITISH COLUMBIA TO READ MORE
Joy is not the result of getting what you want; it is the way to get what you want. In the deepest sense, joy is what you want.
–Alan Cohen
A Prayer for Difficult Conversations
May our shared values be our compass,
Helping us to remember why we are on this spinning planet,
Helping us to navigate here in this dense thicket.
I know we are both struggling, so may we have compassion for one another.
May our shared memories be our sustenance,
Nurturing us along as we are weary and wary on this rocky road,
Providing strength to go on.
I know we are kindred, so may we overcome this obstacle to kinship.
May our shared commitments point to our destination,
Imagining a place big enough to hold us all,
Desiring to live where love casts out fear.
I know we both want to be there, so may we touch it now.
May every word I speak be filtered through my heart.
May every word I hear be filtered through my heart.
May my inner judge sit this one out.
May I breathe into lovingkindness, for myself and for you.
And may I accept that we will both do this imperfectly.
BY REV. MEG RILEY, SENIOR MINISTER, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP, TO READ MORE
