Daily Compass

Inspiration: 

 

You are made of stars and dust. But actually, the dust is also made of stars.

 

Love and Death

What a luxury we enjoy, wondering what will happen after we die, even what will happen before we die. Having spent billions of years in gestation, present in all that preceded us—fully admitting the pain and difficulty involved in actually being alive, able to feel and suffer, grieve and die—we can only respond in one way: with awe and gratitude.

We see little of the road ahead or the sky above. And the dust we raise clouds our eyes, leaving only brief interludes to contemplate the stars. All we can do, every now and again, is to stop for a moment and look.

Look. Morning has broken, and we are here, you and I, breathing the air, admiring the slant sun as it refracts through these magnificent, pellucid windows and dances in motes of dust above the pews, calling us to attention, calling us homeward.

Dust to dust.

Heart to heart.

By The Rev. Dr. Forrest Church, TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

Children I implore you
get out of the burning house now
three carts wait outside
to save you from a homeless life
relax in the village square
before the sky everything’s empty
no direction is better or worse
east is just as good as west
those who know the meaning of this
are free to go where they want
― Han-shan

 

The God Beyond

In my office sits a statue of Quan Yin, a representation of the Buddhist image of compassion. For months now, when my daughter Neva walks into my office, she stops, looks at the religious artifacts, goes to the coffee table, takes a tissue from the box, climbs onto the chair next to Quan Yin and wipes the statue’s nose, and then wipes her own.

Her first instinct is not to ask What is this? or Who is it? or even What does it mean? Her first instinct is to reach out, as if born with an intuition that the sacred question is not What do I believe? but rather Who is in need?

I think all of us are born with this instinct. And my hope in watching her is that the future will hold a world united in the effort to reach out to one another rather than one divided into tribes based on beliefs.

May we, my friends, help to carry this intuitive question forward, so that the generations that follow us are helping address the needs of the world as they live out their religious calling, no matter what they believe.

BY KAAREN ANDERSON, PARISH CO-MINISTER, FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

“Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?” 

― D.T. Suzuki

Walking

Tonight I walk. I am watching the sky. I think of the people who came before me and how they knew the placement of stars in the sky, watched the moving sun long and hard enough to witness how a certain angle of light touched a stone only once a year. Without written records, they knew the gods of every night, the small, fine details of the world around them and of immensity above them.

Walking, I can almost hear the redwoods beating. And the oceans are above me here, rolling clouds, heavy and dark, considering snow. On the dry, red road, I pass the place of the sunflower, that dark and secret location where creation took place. I wonder if it will return this summer, if it will multiply and move up to the other stand of flowers in a territorial struggle.

It’s winter and there is smoke from the fires. The square, lighted windows of houses are fogging over. It is a world of elemental attention, of all things working together, listening to what speaks in the blood. Whichever road I follow, I walk in the land of many gods, and they love and eat one another.

Walking, I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.

by Linda Hogan, TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

 

Through calm seas and rough, teach me to sail toward deep water.

On Pilgrimage

What opportunities to connect with your heart are waiting for you? We may postpone them for months on end, but there’s something persistent about the nature of grace: it never goes away. It is always there to be uncovered, and it is, I believe, a significant part of our human journey as we connect with the world authentically, so that grace is unveiled and brought forth.

There are so many things in life that, if we just give them some attention, reveal far more truth and wisdom than first meets the eye. It is easy to be judgmental, to live our days in hurried anticipation of achievement after achievement, and thus lose sight of the wisdom, the beauty, and the authentic significance of what is available to us. I believe that if we pace ourselves, pay attention, and intentionally make room in our lives for genuine encounter, we can uncover grace waiting to be manifested, and thereby bless the world.

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

Inspiration: 

 

Much of a tree, or any plant, is invisible underneath the ground. What part of you is invisible, perhaps even to yourself?

To Be Seen

No matter what our religious beliefs, being seen for who we truly are is something that most of us rarely experience.

Look around—we are a people of masks and disguises. We are a people who have been taught to transform ourselves into what others need us to be. We’ve learned the roles and rules—the art of subtle artifice. We’ve come to believe that most people don’t want to see or hear what we feel, what we need, who we are. We’ve learned that most people don’t want to see the messiness and confusion that each of us carries inside. We’ve learned that only parts of ourselves are publicly presentable. Other parts must be hidden away. For acceptability, approval or promotion, we conceal the rough edges, the broken places. Appearance is the key.

We are afraid that if anyone truly sees inside us, they will run screaming from the sight.

What have you hidden from view? What don’t you let anyone see? What don’t you let yourself see?

BY TIM KUTZMARK, MINISTER, UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF READING, MASSACHUSETTS TO READ MORE