Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Lori Pellatt
Resilience
January 2021. Resilience. I can’t think of a more loaded and complex word that fits so perfectly into the time and space that is this moment, this day, and this year. If you find yourself intact enough to be reading this reflection today after the year we’ve all been through, you can go ahead and count yourself as one of the resilient. The resilient face the storm and brace for impact. They withstand and endure the weather as best they can. And when it’s over, they look at the tattered pieces around them, and astonishingly, they find hope, and maybe even a little inspiration. Somehow they are even drawn to the future. Though they’re tired and weary and their hearts lament, there’s something in them that calls them to collect those tattered pieces and to rebuild. This trait is resilience.
Cerebral types love to pour over the abundant psychological research of resilience and wonder what makes one person more resilient than another. Is resilience an innate trait or something learned? Why do some collapse and crumble at the slightest of disappointments while others seem to let it roll away like nothing? However, I sometimes wonder if resilience isn’t a character trait learned through the admiration of the generations before us. Think about it. No matter how bad you have it, likely your parents, their parents, and even their parents withstood unimaginable hardships, much worse than even what 2020 had in store. Witnessing them stand firm, rebuild, and even, dare I say, have hope is an experience that inspires me to dig deep and find those same qualities in myself.
When my first daughter was just a few weeks old, I was complaining to my Grammy Faye about all those diapers. So many diapers! She sort of chuckled and was very empathetic towards my plight. But at that moment, she started reminiscing aloud about how when she was a new mom, she had to hand wash all those cloth diapers and hang them all over the house to dry. No washers and dryers in those days! “There were hand washed diapers all over my house, hanging all over the place.” She laughed. As I tossed a tiny dirty Pamper into my Diaper Genie, I vowed never to complain to her again about my diaper woes. Not that she wouldn’t have indulged every second of my grumbling, to be fair. But it’s those moments, those stories, those hardships no matter how big or small where we realize….they made it. They did it. We’ll be ok. We can do this.
Of course, changing diapers pales in comparison to some of the things our people, our loved ones, our families have faced this year. For some, the storm has had stronger winds and heavier rains than for others. Some of us lost loved ones to Covid19. Some lost their soulmate. Some have lost their job, and many of us face economic uncertainty. We in our little community have lost our weekly ritual of worshiping together...in person… in REAL life..together.
The storm has battered us all a little differently this year, and we’ve all faced loss. As we stand at the dawn of something new, I will choose to remember those who came before me and let their stories guide me. I will re-read the story of Job, who lost everything, and maybe I’ll read the story of Joseph, whose own family sold him into slavery. I will revisit the story of Moses, exiled from his people. And I will remember that God’s word never told us it would be easy. He never promised clear skies and smooth sailing. But what He does promise is that He is with us in this storm. He never leaves us. He only asks for one thing in return….our hearts. It really is that simple.