Daily Compass

Invitation for me is the sacred duty and role of folks to extend love in the form of hospitality which is a holy virtue in so many theologies. A large part of this is to offer food and drink to all guests (that which feeds all parts of us), and an oft forgotten part of this is to accept folks as they are when they show up … did they show up in a hoodie (or anything that makes them different in your eyes) to your fancy party, guess what, oh well! A part of the hospitality of the invitation means you offer all the love and comfort to them no matter who they are or how they show up. This is sacred labor, and in the times we live in, this also means you are offering an invitation to authentic love and acceptance, and if you can’t do that don’t invite others because you need to be inviting yourself into the work.

How can you accept someone just as they are today?

“I believe that we’re all entitled to our pain—that there’s no hierarchy of grief or fear, in which someone else’s pain invalidates our own. If anything, giving voice to our pain metabolizes it; we come to hold it instead of it holding us. Better yet, sorrow is an invitation to recalibrate our hearts so that we can view one another with both more gentleness and a sense of recognition: You too? Me too! It’s like a homing device, pinging out our longing for connection.” -Erika Hewitt

What is the sorrow and pain that you are feeling today? Give it voice.

“If there is one thing that I appreciate about our Unitarian Universalist Association’s invitation to siding with love in these current times, it is that the invitation invites love as an active force in our lives. So much of our understanding of love can be passive—we talk of ‘falling’ in love, or of being ‘helplessly’ in love, or we assume love’s automatic presence in a family or a home or a community and are shocked to learn otherwise. But I do believe that love is more than merely a power that claims us. It is also a power that we claim by choosing our response to the truths of our world.” -Lisa Friedman

Do something today to choose love.

“What, exactly, are we doing when we invite love into our lives? Surely we know that it’s much tidier without it, when things stay at a distance. And yet: I’m sucked in every time, seduced by the possibility of an expanded heart. I hope that never changes.” -Amanda Poppei

Invite love into your life today, even if it makes things messier.

“Under the right circumstances, playing with fire is a delight—imagine being gathered round a firepit as the crackling flames invite us to sing, dance, and roast a marshmallow or two.” -Melanie Davis

Light a candle and delight in the dance of the flame.