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 Last Time this Happened…

Despite what my children think, I am too young to remember World War II.  My parents, however, lived through that time.  It was the last time in American history when everyone’s life changed.

We forget there was rationing.  People were allotted only a certain amount of meat, sugar, and butter.  Only the sugar was problem for my people; they had cattle and a milk cow.  It was hard on one cousin, however.  He had a still in the swap and needed sugar for the shine. 

Tires and gasoline were rationed.  When my parents got married, my Uncle J.N., who had a service station, swapped out tires for my Daddy so he and Mama could drive off on their honeymoon.  I don’t know how they scrounged up the gas.

Household goods were not easily obtained.  Electricity had come to my family’s ranch, but they couldn’t buy a refrigerator.  Daddy knew Mr. J.W. Crews had a refrigerator in his camp house and somehow talked him into letting him have it until he could buy one. 

Every town within a hundred miles of the coast organized lookouts for enemy planes.  People grew victory gardens so they could get fresh vegetables.  There was no television, but almost everyone had a radio and listened hungrily to the nightly news. 

The young men were off fighting and those too old to fight were being pushed to produce.   Women started doing work they had never done before.  My mother attended Florida Southern College during the war.  There were almost no male students.  The women were expected to help constructing new buildings on campus.  My mother told of pushing wheelbarrows of concrete to build sidewalks across the campus.  In those days, you rolled up your sleeves and you did what you had to do.

My father was not drafted and did not volunteer.  He was a farmer, and the sole provider of his mother.  He fought the war by growing the food that was needed.  Other family members went off to war.  My step-father Lawrence trained as a pilot and flew B-24s.  My cousin Top Barlow parachuted into Sicily and Italy and landed at Anzio.  My Uncle Pete joined the navy.  Once, he roped a practice torpedo to get it back on board the ship.  To win World War II, everyone had to do their part.  

The wars that followed World War II were different.  They were distant affairs.  Korea and Vietnam were difficult because it was hard to know what winning looked like.  The war was fought by draftees, while the elite took deferments in college or grad school. 

In the first Gulf War, the military mobilized, but nothing was rationed.  After 9-11, again we went to war, the war we are still in.  Again, it has been hard to define victory.  Families of military members are impacted.  In a town like mine, with a large base, it is our neighbors who go off and fight and return.  Sometimes, they don’t come back.  But most for most our country, this war is a headline, a campaign issue.  Amazon is still bringing us everything we need.

The Corona Virus Pandemic is the first time since World War II every American’s life has changed.  Whatever normal was for us three weeks ago has changed.  Getting toilet paper and Lysol has become a quest.  We’re working from home.  Churches have gone virtual.  In my town, the movie theater, the car wash, and the YMCA have all shut down.  People are losing jobs.  Medical workers are courageously going in to wage war on a virus that can’t be seen with the naked eye.  School is out.  Teachers are teaching virtually.  It is looking like there will be no graduation from kindergarten or college this year, just a diploma in the mail.

The good news is people are adjusting.  We’re figuring it out.  Yes, we are fighting anxieties and some depression, but we’re fighting.  We will get through this.  COVID19 will not last forever.   There is more resilience in people than we think.

Through all these difficult days, we need to remember God is with us.  At the end of his life, after the people of God had wandered in the wilderness for forty years, Moses reminded his people: “The Lord has blessed you in all the work of your hands.  He has watched over your journey through this vast desert.  These forty years, the LORD your God has been with you and you have not lacked anything (Deuteronomy 2:7).” 

The Lord is watching over us.  No matter how long this lasts, no matter how abnormal these days, the Lord is watching over us.  Thanks be to God.