I have a question for you - how resilient do you think you are?

 Very, hardly, it depends?

 Yeah me too.

 Chances are you have been through your share of heartache and hardship. I know I have.

 That’s the problem with resilience, you have to face great adversity to uncover it.

And  if you are normal, you’d really like to avoid more.

 Resilience .

It’s a word that many are using right now - it feels like it’s everywhere. I have a friend who just started a podcast, Resilient Leaders with JR Briggs, - look it up, JR Briggs is always worth listening to. I have another friend, Dave Ripper, you might know him - who started a sermon series with that word.  We’re talking about resilience. The ESPN Michael Jordan documentary - The Last Dance features MJ’s resilience -it’s everywhere and while normally I like to avoid overusing terms and concepts, these days, I’m very captivated by the idea of growing in resilience.

 So I ask you, how resilient are you?

 Whatever it is, we would probably all admit that we wish we were more.

 And here are a few ways to consider how we can

 First is to take inventory of our suffering and the suffering around us

         It’s a healthy thing to admit that you are suffering. It’s a bad thing to allow yourself to wallow in it. you must acknowledge it, and you must look to the Lord for strength in the midst of it.

         Further, we have to consider the suffering around us.

         We all know people who are grieving.

We all know people who are affected by the pandemic one way or another.

There are those who have said goodbye to loved ones. There are those whose livelihoods are at great risk.

There are those who are facing great relational strains for one reason or another.

There are those who are isolated and falling into greater depression.

We think of all those in need, in this country and throughout our world. Those suffering from global poverty are actually more concerned of dying from hunger rather than from covid symptoms.

you need resilience and so do the people around you. So do those far far from you.

And this gives us perspective.

Second is to choose to lean into the hard times.

What I mean is don’t look for the escape. And even in quarantine we can attempt to escape from the pain within us and around us. Not fully of course, we can never can, but we often escape to our devices for a reality that numbs us. I mean how else can the Tiger King phenomena be explained?

Or we might escape to food and drink. Or to whatever that might distract us from the pain or hardship that confronts us.

Let’s not do this. But again with the strength of God, lean into the hard times.

One of my favorite ebooks of the past few years has been Peter Scarzerro’ Emotionally Healthy Leaders. And right there in the second chapter he talks about the need to face your shadow. Using techniques like naming your feelings, identifying the negative scripts handed down to you and more. Because when we do, we often find that our shadow side reveals a hidden strength that was also hiding in the shadows. That’s part of resilience.

Lean into that so we can experience personal healing and so we can also serve those around us too.

 Third is to commit to Rely on Gods provision.

Our physical needs yes, but also our emotional, for our relational and of course our spiritual needs

And not just ours but also for those around us. Those in physical need, those with emotional pain, those in need of friendship, and those that need to be assured that there is a God who truly loves them

 We can learn resilience by going on a rugged trip climbing mountains and conquering intense rapids and fighting off bears.

 And we can learn also learn resilience grow in resilience by taking these words to heart that Paul writes in Romans 12:11-12

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

 

 

May you take inventory of your hardships, lean into them and rely on God’s provision - because it’s in confronting our hardships that the Lord gives and reveals resilience.