Resilience
Tamara Glasner
Resilience: An ability to recover from or adjust easily to change or misfortune.
Our family went to Forest Home Family Camp summer after summer as our girls were growing up. The camp was one of our favorite family memories, as we all had incredible times with each other and also with God during communal times of worship, hiking, swimming in the lake, and flying down the zipline. Every summer we came back changed, restored, and ready for the year ahead. But there was one year that had a bigger impact than the others.
Every family was tasked with creating words to go with each letter of their last name that would help describe their family and also be a “family value memorial.” We labored together under the shade of old pine trees to come up with just the right words to describe who we were.
G (grateful)
L (loving)
A (able to forgive quickly)
S (secure)
N (nurturing)
E (exuberant)
R…….
R?
This last letter was a little harder for us to decide. Several ideas were thrown out, but none of them resonated. As we waited and prayed, the word RESILIENT seemed to appear out of thin air.
I wouldn’t exactly say we were resilient at the time, but we all agreed this was a skill we wanted to grow in and be known for. If we could become more resilient, if we could get back up faster when we got knocked down, and be less offendable, we would be a stronger family.
Sometimes the most important part of a healthy family unit is to be able to bounce back after a defeat. When there is a need to forgive or to receive forgiveness, we can lean on resilience. But, it takes practice. You have to grow your resilience muscles. You have to choose to have a good attitude, even when you don’t want to.
Little did we know at the time how developing this skill together would come into play. If the current state of affairs is not a time for reliance, no time is. In other words, if there was ever a time to be resilient, this is it. As a family, community, and nation, we need the ability to bounce back quickly. Bounce back to peace. Bounce back to joy and connection. Bounce back to dreaming and hoping.
It’s true, we could still use more resilience. Who doesn’t? In these times of extra stress and pressure, we need extra mercy and grace.
But in those moments when the words hurt, hope seems lost, and the dream looks dead, the Lord is there to help us up, brush us off, and whisper, “Yes, you can. You can keep going. You can keep trying. You can keep loving and forgiving. You can keep dreaming.”
I am 56 and LOVE being a wife and mom. I want to encourage you in whatever battle you may be facing, prayers for sustaining peace and love in your life can come with the amazing help of the Lord and his brilliance infusing his children with what they need every hour.
RESILIENCE is one of those sweet gifts.
Bless you today with more of what you need.
Tamara
*reposted with the author’s permission
