Daily Compass

Carolyn McDade described the night she wrote the hymn Spirit of Life to Kimberly French of UU World:

“When I got to Pat’s house, I told her, ‘I feel like a piece of dried cardboard that has lain in the attic for years. Just open wide the door, and I’ll be dust.’ I was tired, not with my community but with the world. She just sat with me, and I loved her for sitting with me.” Writing the song was the prayer that refilled her spirit.

What words or prayers refill your spirit when you feel like you’re about to fall apart?

Sometimes, in moments of calm, we can be present to the spirit in our midst.

Take a moment to still your body, to calm your breath. Notice the air moving in and out of your lungs. Feel the spirit in you, around you.

May we open ourselves ever more fully to that Eternal Mystery which lures us onward toward life and creativity.

May we find the courage to live our faith, to speak our truth, and to strive together for a world where freedom abounds and justice truly does roll down like water.

May we know the fullness of love without fear, and the serenity of peace without turmoil.

May we hold one another in the deep and tender places with compassion, and may we grace one another by sharing our own vulnerabilities, being ever mindful of the divinity within that makes soulmates of us all.
-Carol Meyer

Where do you find the courage to live your faith?

“God, God is water sleeping
in high-piled clouds.
She is gentle drink of rain,
pooling lake, rounding pond,
angry flooding river.
She is frothy horse-maned geyser.
She is glacier on mountains and polar ice cap,
and breath-taking crystalline ideas of snowflakes.
She is frost-dance on trees.
And we, we are drops of God,
her tears of joy or sorrow,
ice crystals
and raindrops
in the ocean of her.”
-Tess Baumberger, from “Drops of God” (read the whole poem here)

How are you feeling the spirit flow through or over you today?

“To be creative means to be in love with life.”
-Osho

Think about making art today, about the human power to create and to make beauty from simple ingredients.

How might you add beauty and creativity to the world today?