The word “resilience,” a notable word, has a bit of sparkle to it. It’s a soft word, at odds in a sense with what it means: to be tough, to bounce back from challenging circumstances, to forge a new life path after a perilous and fraught period. To hold onto hope as you look over a horizon that might seem bleak, but feeling confident, despite yourself, that there will be brighter days ahead.
I’ve been told multiple times I’m resilient.
In fact, both my husband and I declare ourselves resilient – either by default or by necessity. There have been grave illnesses or other daunting circumstances in our path in the past 50 years we’ve shared. For example, everyone in the world shared COVID-19. And before that, the flu, small pox, and polio.
There’ve been deaths – metaphorical and literal – of friends and frenemies – and each of us has lost a sister. To escape would have required shrink wrap or the uncommon life of the bubble boy. https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/bubble-boy-40-years-later-look-back-at-heartbreaking-case/
Full disclosure: my husband marketed shrink wrap in his career, so we know how apt the analogy is.
We are facilitating a small group at our church, fielding discussions centered on life with God’s help. A common theme resonated – figuring out how to deal with what you have in front of you because there really is no choice. And what you learn in those moments. While each group member agreed with the notion that, as we experienced life, we could more accurately rely on our guts. As one member put it, “Maybe I knew that in a sense, but during that challenging time, I think I really learned to be on my own, trust my decisions, understand that I wasn’t going to just fall apart or fall through a crack or just disappear. Importantly, however, I knew in my gut that God had my back… and that He’d love me no matter what.”
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