Braver/Wiser
Braver/Wiser
Braver/Wiser
Worship
Life is full of hard edges and complicated choices. Braver/Wiser gives you weekly message of courage and compassion for life as it is. Every Wednesday we deliver an original written reflection by a contemporary religious leader, and brief prayer, grounded in Unitarian Universalism. Join the Braver/Wiser community and sign up today!
-
Building a Common Life
Last fall, our weekly small-town newspaper had two stories I loved. One was a thank you note from the Animal Control Officer to several residents for rescuing a herd of five ponies and one goat. Apparently the goat figured out how to unlock the barn gate and liberated everyone...By Elea Kemler | 5/16/2018 -
The Story of My Birth
When my eldest child was three, they* had almost no control over their emotions, and those emotions were fueled by anything from hunger to noise to too much fun. One day near the end of a holiday break spent in Michigan with family, they started sobbing over getting the wrong...By Mandie McGlynn | 5/9/2018 -
Blue Sky Returning
Before I moved to Michigan, friends warned me about the long months of overcast skies. I’d lived in climates where winter came with snow and freezing temperatures, but also included plenty of sunshine and that sharp cobalt reserved for particularly cold days. Here, though, the...By Lindasusan Ulrich | 4/25/2018 -
The Strength That Defines Us
My son was five when he announced that he would no longer cut his hair. He hated going through the whole process. He also liked his hair and was done. I agreed; I, too, was done fighting with him about haircuts. As time went on, I marveled at the beauty of his hair and the way...By Rayla D. Mattson | 4/18/2018 -
That They May Have Like-Mindedness
As I was locking up the church after choir rehearsal, I was struck (not for the first time) by the engraved sign above the chapel door. It boldly says, “THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE.” Our historic sanctuary, which now serves as our chapel, has half a dozen or so such scripture verses...By DeReau K. Farrar | 4/11/2018 -
Putting the Pieces Together
I love jigsaw puzzles. I love that moment of satisfaction when you finally find the fourth corner piece, and the smooth feel of the completed puzzle under your hand. But what I love most is seeing the picture emerge. How many times have I stared at the original mess of pieces —...By Amanda Poppei | 4/4/2018 -
God and Guns
The first transcendent experience I had was with a gun in my hand. I was eight years old, maybe nine. I was standing just outside my back door, looking out across the yard to the edge woods beyond. There was a scrub oak maybe forty feet before me with a horizontal branch six...By Teresa Honey Youngblood | 3/28/2018 -
Kindling the Spirit
I love watching people. While eating at a local restaurant, though, I saw a parent criticize their child’s artwork because they drew a car in the sky and cars don’t fly. The child was crushed. At the table on the other side of me, two friends were ordering lunch. One, who was...By Connie Simon | 3/21/2018 -
Opportunities to Say Yes
For forty days, I refused to say no. Last year for Lent, I decided to say yes to any request. I had only two rules: the request must do no harm, and to keep the practice authentic, I couldn’t tell anyone about it until it was over. When I came up with this Forty Days of...By Nathan Ryan | 3/14/2018 -
Strangers at the Door
Ding-dong. When my friend Beth answered her door one day, she found a pair of earnest Mormon missionaries: young men wishing to chat with her about their religion. Beth being Beth, she invited her visitors in, listened to what they had to say, and in response shared her “good...By Erika A. Hewitt | 3/7/2018 -
Faithful
We were in the car when Kirk, my three-year-old son, said, “We don’t need guns in school. I know what to do—you have to hide and be quiet. That’s what Ms. Laurie says.” I thought I misheard him. One. Two. Three: I waited to figure out what to say next. At the parent-...By Robin Tanner | 2/28/2018 -
Another, Truer Song
I first visited a children’s psychiatric unit twenty-two years ago. The boy’s mother and I stood facing each other in the hallway by the locked door, not saying a word because there was nothing to say. He was ten years old and seemed not to want to live. He had been putting...By Elea Kemler | 2/21/2018 -
No Longer Claiming "Divorced"
I used to be very conscious of the fact that I was “a single mom” — so self-conscious, in fact, that I would add that I was “a divorced mother,” as if this extra piece of information somehow made things better; as if people would judge me less if they knew that I did, in fact,...By Rayla D. Mattson | 2/14/2018 -
Lean in to Life
I recently found myself in a Kundalini yoga class with a new teacher. I'm a UU, but Kundalini Yoga is my spiritual practice. I’m wearing my white cotton clothing, my head wrap, sitting on my natural fiber blanket, moving contently through the exercises with care and focus and...By Tara Humphries | 2/7/2018 -
Good Enough
I call myself a recovering perfectionist. People usually laugh when I say that, not realizing how serious I am. Perfectionism has robbed me of joy and kept me from being present in my life. I remember a chamber ensemble concert in high school, for example, when we played a...By Lindasusan Ulrich | 1/31/2018 -
Telling a New Story
I thought about my first tattoo for a long time, but when a pregnancy test unexpectedly came back positive, my ink research took a new direction. I didn’t cancel my trip to the tattoo parlor; birthing this baby at this moment would harm everyone involved, and I knew that I would...By Mandie McGlynn | 1/20/2018 -
Wanting to Break Free
I'm often accused of being “too reserved,” and there’s truth at the heart of that. On the spiciness scale, my expressiveness is on the mild end. I’m sure that stems from my disdain for being the center of attention. Still, I'm frequently advised to "loosen up," and offered the...By DeReau K. Farrar | 1/16/2018 -
Mrs. Cash's Oranges
I grew up in a three-bedroom, cinderblock ranch style house with a two-car garage and a mess of tiger lilies and saw palmettos in the front yard. There was a lake at the end of the street — one of the few in Central Florida left unspoiled, because its proximity to the railroad...By Teresa Honey Youngblood | 1/10/2018 -
Stopping to Help
Why is it that some people stop to help and others just keep going? In my adult life, I’ve happened upon a number of memorable car accidents. In one, a mother was unconscious while her small child was screaming in the back of the car. My friend and I raced to pull the child...By Rayla D. Mattson | 1/3/2018 -
The Possibility of Redemption
“Is your congregation handicap accessible?” “Yes, it is,” I replied. “Great. I'll see if my wife will bring me on Sunday.” There he was the very next Sunday. Over the next few months, I learned a lot about John. A Vietnam veteran who returned home to serve as a police...By Robin Tanner | 12/26/2017
Pages
Join the Braver/Wiser community and sign up today!
Like, Share, Print, or Explore
For more information contact braverwiser@uua.org.
Find everything tagged: