Muddy Children
Hosea Ballou was born in 1771, and grew up in a Baptist family who believed that people were sinful, and should live in fear of a punishing God.
But when he was a teenager, Hosea started questioning the beliefs he was raised with. If God loves us, why would God want to punish us?
If God is like a father to us, what father would want his children to be punished for all eternity?
Hosea became a Universalist, and preached the good news that what God wants is for us to be happy, and to build our happiness through being kind to others.
When someone asked Ballou how God could show such grace even to people who were bad, he responded by asking: If your child falls down and gets all filthy, and you wash them and get them clean clothes, do you love your child because they are now clean, or did you clean your child because you love them?
Hosea, and Universalists to come after him, believed in a God of grace who loves everyone just as they are.
Perils of Perfection
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An overachiever’s high-stress lifestyle was causing a whole complex of stress-related issues: migraines, backaches, heart palpitations, and climbing blood pressure. Alarmed, her doctor told her she needed to slow down and learn to relax. Read more →
Imperfection: The Perfect Spirituality
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My youngest sister Beth was very talented physically. When she was seven she could roller skate across the basement, up the stairs, down the steep driveway and the steeper hill of the road with perfect balance and grace. But she was very shy. Read more →
Want More?
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If you enjoy the ways in which Monthly Quest gets you thinking, come join the conversation on Facebook—search for the CLF Quest Monthly Theme Discussion Group. Read more →
Always Evolving
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It’s no secret that the CLF is willing to try new things and risk mistakes to reach more people with a Unitarian Universalist message of hope, love, and justice. Read more →
The Healing Moment
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Each day I am newly reminded of my unworthiness: a dozen thoughts misspoken; another day when the good I do falls so far short of the good that I could do; myriad small interchanges, moments of sharing that strain to the breaking point my desire to be generous, helpful, and kind; months of careful work lost by a moment’s impatience, a careless word. Read more →
The Imperfectionist
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The reason I’ve been able to
produce so much
is that I’m not a perfectionist—
I’m an imperfectionist. Read more →
From Your Minister
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Mistakes. The longer I live, the more clearly I know that I’ll never quit making them. So, one skill that I have honed to a fine point is that of apologizing. Read more →
REsources for Living
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Contrary to popular belief, there is something to be said for failings and foibles. After all, mistakes are the basis of our whole diverse, ever-changing, interdependent web of life. Read more →
Afterward
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Afterward, we want to say,
But can’t we do that over?
Say, But it was a mistake! Read more →
