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Braver/Wiser: Courage and Compassion for Life as It Is

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 and brief prayer, grounded in Unitarian Universalism. Join the Braver/Wiser community and sign up today!

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  • From behind, a dark-skinned person wearing jeans and a hoodie holds the hand of a small child. They're standing on a beach, looking at the waves. Next to them, a looming metal border wall, with one tarnished panel, stretches far into the ocean.
    It is a profoundly simple thing to put love at the center.
    Reflection | By Zeb Green | May 21, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • Five young multicultural adults are seated at two adjoining desks in a glass-walled room suggesting a library. Two students are looking down at open books, while the other three appear to be chatting with one another.
    I need the balance of accountability and support that comes only from being in deep relationship with others.
    Reflection | By Takiyah Nur Amin | May 14, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Accountability, Challenge, Change, Direct Experience, Humanism, Humility, Listening, Relationships, Responsibility, Trust, Truth, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • Caught in flight, a red-winged blackbird flies over greenery. The small, bright red patches on its wings blaze against its black body and wings.
    When we live authentically, we honor the truth that all people are beloved.
    Reflection | By Cara Stultz Costello | May 7, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • A dark mosaic, crafted from many small pieces of dark glass, reflect a rainbow of vivid colors.
    Everything is different now.
    Reflection | By Manish Mishra-Marzetti | April 30, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Abundance, America, Direct Experience, Empathy, Family, Fathers, Fear, Humanism, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Love, Worship
  • In the foreground, the singer of a punk band grips a microphone and sings with passion. Behind him, colored lights and smoke fill a stage that holds three guitarists. In the background, people are rocking out to the music.
    As chaplains, we create spaces that provide ceremony, connection, and sanctuary.
    Reflection | By James Clarke | April 23, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Arts & Music, Caring, Direct Experience, Identity, Inclusion, Individualism, Searching, Worship
  • In a church sanctuary, with a stained glass window behind the pulpit with a blurred figure, two different people with dark skin raise an arm to the sky in praise.
    In an era of certain oppression, living our values calls me to resistance.
    Reflection | By Verdis Robinson | April 16, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Christianity, Easter, Worship
  • On a set of stairs outdoors, two women sit talking. They're holding hands, as if comforting one another.
    It seems to me that right now, we all need a little extra grace.
    Reflection | By Elizabeth Stevens | April 9, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Caring, Compassion, Conflict, Despair, Direct Experience, Empathy, Grace, Living Our Faith, Patience, Relationships, Worship
  • A person with dark skin sits, a blanket around their shoulders, on the edge of an emergency vehicle holding what seem to be their injured hand. We see a white person in a uniform bending over, about to apply a bandage or ice pack to the hurt hand.
    Noticing things that need our attention, and then stopping to help, is a communal habit.
    Reflection | By Christine Slocum | April 2, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • On a black wrought iron fence, a sprig of flowers is taped next to a handwritten sign on purple posterboard: "Trans energy is sacred energy"
    Trans joy trans joy is bigger than the struggle, louder than the hate, more enduring than fear.
    Reflection | By Jes Martinez-Hunt | March 26, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #LGBTQ, #Pride, 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Children, Identity, Joy, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Parents, Self-Respect, Worship
  • A close-up of a white person's neck, collarbone, and upper chest. The person is wearing a shallow, scoopnecked black shirt, and there's glitter covering their skin.
    As a trans woman, I love the ways we sparkle; the ways we twirl. This is how I enter the world, and I've paid a high price for it my entire life.
    Reflection | By Quinn Gormley | March 19, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #LoveResists, #Pride, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Freedom, Gender, Healing, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Secular, Self-Respect, Sexuality, Transformation, Women, Worship
  • Over the vast New Mexico landscape of scrubbrush and, in the distance, purple mountains, a large stormy sky is filled with lurking clouds. A bright arm of lightning reaches down from one cloud to the earth below.
    When the storm is powerful, we need each other to weather it.
    Reflection | By Tomo Hillbo | March 12, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • A Black man and a small child, wearing rubber boots, hunch down in the shallow part of a wide river. The child is dipping a small pink net into the water, guided by their father's hand. They're both gazing at the surface of the water.
    At any moment in our lives we have a choice about how to inhabit the world.
    Reflection | By Michelle L. Mills | March 5, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Buddhism, Worship
  • Rev. Lindasusan, a person of color, stretches out their arm to reveal their tattoo by James Chase: a dandelion going to seed, with its scattered seeds spelling the word L I B E R A T I O N
    What if each of us made a lifetime commitment to get free and to bring others with us?
    Reflection | By Lindasusan Ulrich | February 12, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Arts & Music, Body, Direct Experience, Freedom, Friendship, Letting Go, Living Our Faith, Worship
  • A shaggy, black, medium-sized dog wearing a purple harness sits alertly on the grass, with its face turned away from the camera. A leash from the harness is in a white person's hand; we see only their sleeve and a portion of their leg.
    Choice by choice, we make an effort to live out what we say we want, and who we claim to be.
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | February 5, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Animals, Faith, Integrity, Interdependence, Living Our Faith, Playfulness, Relationships, Religion, Worship
  • A metal anchor rests on a patch of sand on a beach. Behind the anchor, a chain trails towards the incoming tide.
    Hope is challenging, if not impossible, to grasp alone.
    Reflection | By Oscar Sinclair | January 29, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • A pair of white Gizeh Birkenstock sandals rests on a wooden fence or pallet. In the background, beachgrass and sand give way to water, and the sun is setting in the distance.
    Holy one, for you I will watch and wait.
    Reflection | By Susan Maginn | January 22, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • In profile, and silhouetted by light coming in through a window, a person with long hair in a ponytail holds up both hands in anguish. Their face is tipped skyward and their mouth is open as though crying or shouting.
    Anger is not at all what people think it is. Anger has been kind and caring to me.
    Reflection | By Julie Yeeun Kim | January 15, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Activism, America, Anger, Christianity, Immigration, Politics, Race/Ethnicity, Resilience, Spirituality, Worship
  • In a kitchen, a child sits on top of a counter, facing their mother who holds a coffee cup. She's bending towards the child to press her forehead and nose against theirs. They're both smiling affectionately.
    Joy arises like a gift, beyond my own deserving.
    Reflection | By DanaLee Simon | January 8, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Abundance, Acceptance, Aging, Anger, Balance, Choice, Imagination, Joy, Resilience, Worship
  • In a snowy bank, a small cave has been dug out: about two feet wide and a foot tall. Inside that cave are two glowing candles, a metal goblet, and a plate with small items.
    I’ve found it helpful to think about parts of my life as cycles or spirals instead of a single, often meandering path.
    Reflection | By Geoff Duke | December 18, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Earth-Centered, Paganism, Worship
  • A brown-skinned person wearing a puffy jacket has their back to the camera, viewing lush mountains covered in coniferous trees in Dharamshala, India.
    Holiness is within us; wholeness is around us.
    Reflection | By Rumni Saha | December 11, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Buddhism, Worship
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