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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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  • A person with dark skin, wearing denim overalls, is partially seen kneeling on the floor. They are holding a long-handled paintbrush and dabbing yellow paint on a paint palette that rests on the floor, at the level of the camera. They appear to be in the middle of a painting in a studio.
    The freedom to seek, discover, and accept others’ truths is a sweet path to follow.
    Reflection | By Clint Nicely | September 17, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Arts & Music, Beauty, Creativity, Discernment, Freedom, Individualism, Personal Stories, Worship
  • A preteen child, sitting on a step, hugs their knees and rests the side of their face on their knees, as if expressing sadness. An adult sitting next to them attends to the child, one hand on their knee and another around their back.
    We're only as safe as the people we’re willing to protect.
    Reflection | By Samara Powers | September 10, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #LGBTQ, #LoveResists, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Activism, Challenge, Commitment, Conscience, Direct Experience, Humanism, Integrity, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Living Our Faith, Oppression, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • A young person, seen only from their neck to their chest, has their palm flat against their heart. In the blurred background, an adult sitting up on a couch appears to be doing the same thing.
    Hold us as we learn to show ourselves the kindness we seek to model for those we love.
    Reflection | By Audrey McCann | September 3, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Children, Choice, Direct Experience, Empathy, Forgiveness, Healing, Humanism, Self-Care, Spiritual Practice, Transformation, Trauma, Worship
  • Two photos in wood frames are propped in front of a row of books. Both photos are in sepia tones, and obviously very old. The first photo, of Rev. Samuel Longfellow, is a close-up of a white man with short parted hair, a mustache, bushy beard, and a bow tie. The second photo, of Rev. Samuel Johnson, is set back slightly, showing a white man with longer dark hair, and a longer beard. He is wearing a suit and bow tie, as well, and his name appears in calligraphy under the portrait.
    The love that brought The Sams into partnership ripples outward from their lives.
    Reflection | By Norman Allen | June 25, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • In the foreground, a small candle is lit inside of a glass jar. It's setting on the back of a wooden church pew, in the dark. In the background, the chancel of the sanctuary is visible, an altar filled with lit candles, and strings of white lights draped across the vaulted ceiling. It's a cozy vibe.
    “The Sams,” as they were known in Transcendentalist circles, revised time-worn lyrics to move beyond dogma and creed.
    Reflection | By Norman Allen | June 18, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • A dark-skinned person, wearing headphones and with closed eyes, as if caught up in the joy of music. The background is stylized with paint-like splashes of color, musical notation, and other artistic elements.
    Art heals.
    Reflection | By Jolie Rocke | June 11, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • Taken from behind and between two people, a woman sitting at a piano uses her hands to position the hands of a young child next to her, as if the child is having trouble striking the correct keys.
    May I always seek the wisdom, beauty, and whimsy in the grace notes of life.
    Reflection | By Sarah Dutton | June 4, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • Against a black background, puffs of glittery smoke appear in a span of teal, blue, violet, lavender, red, orangey-yellow, lime, and green.
    Unitarian Universalism “queers” the idea of theology itself.
    Reflection | By Karishma Gottfried | May 28, 2025 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Freedom, Identity, Imagination, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • 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
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