Spiritual Sustenance

Rev Rebecca Bryan
Aug 29, 2017 · 1 min read

We can be forces of good by the simple and powerful act of truly seeing another person, and reflecting back to them their inherent goodness.

Barbara Brown Taylor calls this the practice of encountering others. She writes, “…encountering another human being is as close to [the divine] as I may ever get…” (“An Altar in the World”)

We have all been saved by an encounter with a stranger, I imagine. What was yours? Mine was a man who could not speak due to a speech impediment. He came to my aid after a bicycle accident. The light in his eyes was like nothing I have experienced before or since. Wordlessly, he conveyed genuine love and compassion. His eyes told me, “You matter. I am here.” The care in his eyes got me through the experience and the weeks of recovery. I was transformed. I never knew his name. We never know what impact we have on another. Choose to make it good. Always.

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Rev Rebecca Bryan

Written by

Unitarian Universalist minister in Newburyport MA.

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