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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- Advent (15)
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Displaying 161 - 180 of 323
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Sometimes, I know I'm hanging onto a part of my life that I'll eventually need to let go of...but not just yet.Reflection | By Amanda Poppei | April 22, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Beginnings, Children, Direct Experience, Ending, Humanism, Letting Go, Limitations, Sacrifice, Secular
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A new disease, without any cure, is pushing us apart. And, yet, we cannot escape one another. We need one another. Whether I acknowledge it or not, the guarantee of safety does not exist.Reflection | By Manish Mishra-Marzetti | April 15, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Fear, Humanism, Illness, Interdependence, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Relationships, Secular, Shame, Vulnerability
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Jesus had no political power. He lived his whole life in the shadow of the Roman empire, and that empire killed him. Yet Jesus healed the sick, he listened, he moved among the ordinary people, in the lowly places.Reflection | By Myke Johnson | April 8, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Calling, Caring, Christianity, Democracy, Easter, Evil, Good Friday, Healing, Hope, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility
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I’m confident in our human ability to together muscle our way into renewing our world.Reflection | By Aram Mitchell | April 1, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Direct Experience, Doubt, Fear, Hope, Humanism, Interdependence, Searching, Secular
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“Game” is no longer the proper metaphor to guide my thoughts and actions. We are—all of us—in liminal space, at a threshold confronting immediacy, shrouded in fog.Reflection | By Rita Capezzi | March 25, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, Doubt, Fear
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Years ago, I did one of those mud run obstacle races. There were eight physical obstacles on the course, but my biggest learning was that we all had a ninth obstacle.Reflection | By Laura Solomon | March 18, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, Community, Compassion, Disaster or Crisis, Fear, Relationships, Self-Care
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In this community, we hold hope close. We don’t always know what comes next, but that cannot dissuade us. We don’t always know just what to do, but that will not mean that we are lost in the wilderness. We rely on the certainty beneath, the foundation of our values and ethics. —Rev. Theresa I.Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | March 11, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Caring, Community, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Fear, Humanism, Interdependence, Leadership, Relationships, Responsibility, Secular
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We all have our foibles; pieces of ourselves that we both admire and occasionally revile. These gifts and struggles exist in tandem.Reflection | By Alix Klingenberg | March 4, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Body, Compassion, Direct Experience, Discernment, Self-Care, Self-Respect
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Before I birthed my baby, he was a possibility, a kick against my insides. With that first cry, first breath, he became a person in the world.Reflection | By Caitlin Cotter Coillberg | February 26, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beginnings, Birth, Body, Children, Death, Direct Experience, Family, Grief, Mothers, Sacred
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If we aren’t willing to ask the important, uncomfortable, and even scary questions, we won’t get to larger and deeper truths.Reflection | By Katie Romano Griffin | February 19, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Humanism, Responsibility, Searching, Secular, Truth
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A lot of us feel like our lives should have come with instructions. Or maybe they did, but we lost the only copy a long time ago.Reflection | By Elea Kemler | February 12, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Brokenness, Caring, Change, Direct Experience, Friendship, Humanism, Interdependence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Trust, Vulnerability
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We have so many opportunities to bless each other in this world, but they don’t always announce themselves as moments of profound transformation.Reflection | By Lindasusan Ulrich | February 5, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Acceptance, Body, Direct Experience, Diversity, Fat Liberation, Friendship, Humanism, Kindness, Relationships, Secular, Youth/Teens
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Surround yourself with skillful teachers. Let them teach you, but don't let them do it for you. That learning is yours to do.Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | January 22, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Arts & Music, Beauty, Brokenness, Creativity, Direct Experience, Growth, Humanism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular
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When you’re the only black man in a sea of whiteness, purses still get clutched, and people still cross the street, and hellos still get lost in the void.Reflection | By Adrian L. H. Graham | January 15, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Fear, Identity, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Relationships
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We are never numbers to be tallied for turnout. We are more than a sum. Together, we are the hope and courage.Reflection | By Robin Tanner | January 8, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Activism, Commitment, Community, Hope, Justice, Presence, Solidarity
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One of my most treasured New Year’s traditions is coming up with a word for the year: a single word that I want to be the theme for my entire year. When I’m questioning what’s the right thing to do, I will look to my word of the year for guidance.Reflection | By Tim Atkins | January 1, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beginnings, Direct Experience, Integrity, Letting Go, New Year, Purpose, Spiritual Practice, Vision
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Every year, I tell the congregation not to worry about mistakes because there aren’t any; there is only us, telling an old story about love getting born into this aching world.Reflection | By Elea Kemler | December 18, 2019 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Advent, Brokenness, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Community, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Love, Playfulness, Tradition, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism
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It was disruptive and strange to know that someone had died to bring this hope, and to wonder how the donor’s family mourned at the same time we rejoiced.Reflection | By Elizabeth Bukey Saunter | December 11, 2019 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Direct Experience, Family, Fear, Interdependence, Mystery, Relationships, Vulnerability
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With a single generous gesture from my older child, her sister's belief in Santa stayed intact that year.Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | December 4, 2019 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, Generosity, Parents, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Tradition
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The crisis was an opportunity to learn to be fully me and love it, inner turmoil and all. I learned that strength comes from authenticity, never from perfection.Reflection | By Tomo Hillbo | November 27, 2019 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Brokenness, Conscience, Direct Experience, Family, Grief, Healing, Love, Mothers, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Vulnerability