Resilience…

“When life knocks you down (and it will), and you get back up, that’s resilience” – Marcus Buckingham. 

I grew up around resilient people, shaped by the Great Depression.  They did what needed to be done.  My Aunt Ouida, as a high school student, would go down to the barn, shoot a steer, dress it out, layout the pieces on the back seat of a Model A Ford, drive to town, and trade the meat for flour and sugar.  That is resilience. 

COVID has been a stress test of resilience, a tough time for everyone.  It has brought out the best in some people, the worst in others.  Some people have chosen to see themselves as the victim; others have used this time as an opportunity.  What do resilient people do that is different than other people?   

Resilient people are curious.  They ask, “What can I learn from this crisis?”  You may not think of curiosity as an emotion, but it is.  Sometimes it is called “wonder.”  We have heard Einstein’s supposed definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  Resilient people learn from failure and do something different. 

Resilient people have passion.  Passion is an internal compass that points you to true truth.  Some people call it drive.  Larry Bird, the great NBA start of previous generation, was famous for staying after practice to work on his shots.  He made perimeter shots look easy.  Resilient people hang in a little longer, give a little more effort, and do one more thing.  I asked a Mom of three preschoolers how she did it, and she said, “I am driven to be present for my kids.  I want them to know they are cherished and loved, and that starts before they can remember.” 

Resilient people know their purpose.  “Purpose” is a word describing an emotion that has no English word.  Men will talk about being “tough” or having “guts.”  Old English expressed it like this: “The King purposed to send troops into battle.”  Purpose means you know your unique contribution to the world, and you sell out to it.  Strangely, when you meet someone with a strong sense of purpose, they seem a little nutty or abnormal.  It could be they are the normal ones, and the rest of us are abnormal because we are not living out our purpose. 

Resilient people live in hope.  Hope is stronger fear.  Need proof?  Every second child born to a couple is a testimony to hope.  Fear of birth pain is overwhelmed by hope.  If you live in hope, you will still have days of discouragement; however, you will not let failure define you.  You hold onto a future better than your present.   

In 1945, the USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine after a secret mission.  Nine hundred men survived the sinking; only 316 survived a four-day ordeal of exposure and shark attacks.  When the survivors were debriefed about their traumatic experience, they told of men who would deliberately detach from the circles of men treading water and swim off by themselves.  These outliers would quickly drown or be consumed by sharks.  When asked why men did this, one survivor remarked, “They were the ones with no future ahead.”  They had no hope. 

You can choose to be resilient.  You can be curious.  You can live out your passion.  You can embrace your purpose.  You can live in hope. 

Resilience is a spiritual process.  The Apostle Paul spoke of being beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and beaten for the cause of Jesus.  He wrote, “We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).”  I would say Paul was a pretty resilient guy.  How did he do it? 

Paul always remembered he was a forgiven man – that is what it means to carry around the body the death of Jesus.  Whatever mistakes he made, whatever failures he faced, he knew the grace power of Jesus was greater.  The resurrected life of Jesus was able to shine through Paul because Jesus's resurrection means nothing ultimately defeats the one who follows Jesus.     

Resurrection is ultimate resiliency.  As one of my mentors said, “Followers of Jesus are Easter People.  We live in hope.”

The Whole World in His Hands…

Outside my window there was a group of children playing football.  There was one very tall boy, one very tall girl, a half dozen mid-size kids, and three or four pint-sized munchkins.  They had organized themselves: the two tall kids were captains and quarterbacks, the little kids were running backs and receivers, and rest were lineman and defensive backs. 

Their game was compelling.  I stopped my work to watch.  The tall-boy team was moving the ball down the field in a series of runs, picking up yardage.  Then a fumble.  Ever seen twelve children pounce on one spot?  It looked like a pack of hungry dogs who had found a bone.  One of the tall-girl team-members was at the bottom of the pile, curled up around the ball.  A turnover. 

The first play of the tall-girl team was a handoff.  A speedy girl with long black hair took off.  She made the corner and was running toward the goal.  Her teammates were running after her and the tall-boy team was in hot pursuit.  Through my window I could hear laughter and shouts as they chased the black-haired blur.  She crossed some imaginary goal line and spiked the ball. Touchdown for the tall-girl team. 

I wanted to get up, leave my desk, and get in the game, but I had a deadline to meet.  People were waiting on me.  But clearly those children were having much more fun than I was having.  There was joy in their game, laughter in their running. 

Before I returned to my computer and the ever-blinking cursor, I thought about all the things those kids were not worried about: the election, COVID19, violence, the economy, and a thousand other things that filled my thoughts.  If those children knew about those things, they did not worry about them.  My hunch was they left the weightier matters to their parents.  They were being who they were made to be: children. 

I know not every child has an idyllic childhood.  But even children in horrific environments know how to play.  It seems to be hardwired into our souls.  Our souls long to laugh and run, to feel the joy of deliciously wasted energy.   

I can’t remember the last time I ran just for the fun of it.  Come to think about it, I can’t remember the last time I ran.  It seems like most of my day is about getting things done.  Even my Sabbaths can feel hurried: “I have to hurry up and rest so I can get back to work.”  I don’t think that is what God had in mind when he said, “Six days you shall labor and the seventh you shall rest.”  Though lots of energy was being expended by the kids outside my window, I felt sure those children were Sabbathing better than I do. 

Jesus once said, “Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven.”  Among other things, I think Jesus meant to really live the life God wants you to live, you have to leave things in His hands.  Sure, we care about elections and COVID, justice and the economy, but ultimate solutions are in God’s hands. Jesus’ invitation to us is to be children, loved by our Heavenly Father. 

An older, wiser follower of Jesus once told me I needed to pray until I no longer felt anxious.  That would mean I truly had left the matter in God’s hands.  God’s hands are wide enough to hold whatever you place there and strong enough to work in ways you cannot understand.   

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”  Anxiety is always a prayer-cue.  When you present your requests to God, and leave them with him, a peace you cannot understand guards your soul, even if your prayer is not answered in the way you wish.  Our God is the adult in the relationship.  He’s got you.  He’s got me.  As the old song goes, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.”

We Are the World…

I read in the news today that the streets of Beirut are empty.  Ditto the streets of Baghdad, Beijing, London, and New York.  ISIS, of all people, is telling its followers not to travel because of the virus.  When you look at the Center for Disease Control map of the world, there are a small handful of countries without COVID19 cases.  You can’t help but wonder if that is because of a lack of testing.  Whatever normal was, it isn’t now.

It feels like the whole world is shutting down.  Unemployment claims in our country jumped 3,000% in March.  The governor of my state has shut down all businesses that require close contact.  I squeezed in and got a haircut before the deadline.  Who knows when I get another haircut by a professional?

All around the world restaurants are closed.  We’ve gone back in time when most meals were cooked at home.  I’m seeing parts of my freezer I didn’t know existed.  People are binge watching shows, but if you like to watch sports, you’ve been dropped into the desert.

One evening this week, we went for a drive.  We had no destination, just wanted to get out of the house.  For the first time in my life, I understood the whole idea of a “Sunday drive.”  Just ramble.  Take a road you’ve never taken and see where it takes you.  Everyone in the world is feeling cooped up.

In an odd way, it's comforting to know that everyone in world is experiencing this.  The concern about COVID19 is the same in Wuhan, China as it is in Sumter, SC.  No one wants to get this virus. Everyone wants to get this over as soon as possible.  Everyone is waiting, which is some of the hardest work to do.

If you pause and think about it, when was the last time everyone on the planet was experiencing the same thing?  Never.  The mom in Johannesburg, South Africa deals with the same thing as the mom in Tokyo. 

People have asked me if God is trying to tell us something.  I’m sure he is.  I’ve seen the preachers who are declaring this is the beginning of the end.  Other preachers are saying this is God’s judgment on the world. 

I don’t know for sure about any of the that, but here’s what I do know for sure:  we are all God’s creation.  Human beings spend enormous energy dividing ourselves.  We look at people with a different color skin, or a different language, or a different religion, and we find a reason to hate.  We construct versions of reality that tell us we are better than other people because of where we live or where we’ve gone to school.  I love my country but being an American doesn’t make me better than a Russian. 

The Apostle Paul wrote a great truth in Romans: “God is no respecter of persons…”  There is a lot of theology packed into that verse.  God sees all of us as we truly are.  He knows every person on this planet, all 7.8 billion of us.  He knows every one of us will have a moment when we realize there is a problem we cannot solve by wealth, ancestry, or nationality.  Right now, all 7.6 billion of us are realizing we are vulnerable to virus that is no respecter of persons.  From the slums of Mumbai to the high-rises of Dubai, the virus will not discriminate.

We are the world.  Every person on this planet is a creation of God, whether they know him or not.  Everyone is a microscopic particle away from infection.  We are the world waiting.

That’s why we need something else God said about this world: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes on him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

Whatever your fears, anxieties, depressions, do not forget this:  There is a God who loves you.  He gave his son for you.  When you believe this, death - whether it comes from a virus or a cancer or old age – death will not have the last word over you. God does.  And he wants you to have a life that goes beyond death.  A life that starts when you believe.

We are the world God loves.  Believe.