By Kat LiuApril 24, 2024“A lot of times we base everything just on our immediate circumstance. We don't see a big picture for our lives. We don't love ourselves. We don't have a way of kind of gauging the future, so we count it lost.” —Jennifer HolidayNowadays my attitude towards driving is arguabl
By Christine SlocumApril 17, 2024“I believe in God, only I spell it nature.” —Frank Lloyd WrightIt was no surprise to me. Each early winter sunset, I rode my bike home from work and found myself beneath a river of feathers and squawks upon reaching the community center. Thousands of crows would fly
By Quinn GormleyMarch 20, 2024If you missed Part 1 of Quinn's reflection, it's here.“Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.”—Maya AngelouLately, my ADHD coping mechanism of hyper-fixation has been about seaweed.Seaweed is incredible, and I go through a seaweed pha
By Quinn GormleyMarch 13, 2024“The beauty of the natural world lies in the details.” —Natalie AngierWhen my hospital chaplaincy cohort completed our final reviews, we had to give (and receive) feedback from our peers—not just our supervisor. One of my peers clearly struggled to speak to me honestly
By Jami Yandle March 6, 2024“I said to the sun, ‘Tell me about the big bang.’ The sun said, ‘It hurts to become.’"—Andrea GibsonRecently, a friend of mine was lamenting to me about having a particularly “low ebb” day—my name for days that are hard for no identifiable reason. The dishes pile up in t
By Connie SimonFebruary 28, 2024“White supremacy, as a culture, wants to claim anything of value and get you to believe that nobody else had an intellectual tradition.”—Dr. Takiyah Nur AminAs a new UU in Philadelphia, I’d walk through the church doors every Sunday and see a portrait of Frances Elle
By Bev SpearsFebruary 21, 2024“...Leaving behind nights of terror and fear⠀I rise⠀Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear⠀I rise⠀Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,⠀I am the dream and the hope of the slave.⠀I rise⠀I rise⠀I rise.”⠀—Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise”I spent fifth grade—our first tim
By Anne GriffithsFebruary 14, 2024“Unconditional love is not so much about how we receive and endure each other, as it is about the deep vow to never, under any condition, stop bringing the flawed truth of who we are to each other.”—Mark Nepo“You should get over into the right lane.” I was in the m
By Takiyah Nur AminFebruary 7, 2024“I hope and I pray that our faith can someday fulfill the promise of its theology.”—Rev. Bill SinkfordWhen I used to work with Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU)—doing workshops or meeting people in UU congregations—inevitably a very well-meaning white p
By Amanda PoppeiJanuary 31, 2024“We are all failures—at least the best of us are.”—J.M. BarrieThere’s a sign hanging in my therapist’s office that says, “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”I know it’s supposed to be inspiring, to encourage people to try for their dreams. But I’ve alwa
