By Carol Thomas Cissel“I want you to understand that your first duty is to humanity. I want others to look at us and see that we care not just about ourselves but about others.” —Madam C.J. WalkerOn January 20, 2021, our country changed. The new Administration coming to D.C. makes me hopeful and br
By Kristin Grassel Schmidt“I am not the man I ought to be, I am not the man I wish to be, and I am not the man I hope to be, but by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be.” —John Newton, author of the words to the hymn “Amazing Grace”It’s been tough to make sense of last Wednesday’s attack
By Erin J. Walter“In times of strife, we have our imagination, we have our creative impulse, which are things that are more important than material things. They are the things we should magnify.” —Patti Smith, More Songwriters on SongwritingWhen I can’t sleep—which is often in pandemic life—I reach
By Tim Atkins"In our perfect ways In the ways we are beautiful, In the ways we are human— WE ARE HERE. Happy New Year’s. Let’s make it ours." —BeyoncéAs a religious humanist, I’ve never quite found a winter holiday that speaks to me on a deep, spiritual level—that is, until I started transforming N
By Elea KemlerYou can prepare but still it will come to you by surprisecrossing through your doorway calling your name in greeting…it will astonish you how wide your heart will open in welcomefor the joy that finds you so ready and still so unprepared. —Jan Richardson, in “For Joy”Years ago, at jus
By Paul S Sawyer“Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.” —Howard Thurman, from “Surrounded by the Love of God” in Meditations of the HeartSome years ago I worked at an inte
By Robin Tanner“I wanna be ready I wanna be ready I wanna be ready when joy comes back to me.” —"Joy Comes Back," a song written by Sean StaplesShortly after his birth and several times in the first year of his life, my son Benjamin was hospitalized for breathing difficulties. He is now a robust tw
By Jake Morrill“Birds that live on the forest floor evolved lower-pitched calls so they don’t bounce or become distorted by the ground as higher-pitched sounds might. Water birds have calls that, unsurprisingly, cut through the ambient sounds of water, and birds that live in the plains and grasslan
By Taryn Strauss“When you reach out, I am here hell or high water / This nest is never going away / My mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze.” —Alanis Morissette, “Ablaze”"Mama, can I tell you something?"I wish I could answer yes. I would shine motherly grace upon my five-year-old son an
By Erica Shadowsong“It has been said that Sekhmet is the Goddess of Ten Thousand Names. Some of these names are to be found in Ancient Egyptian texts and inscriptions. Some are revealed in contemporary times, through dreams, revelations, meditations, and inspirations.” —from Heart of the Sun: An An
