Resilience
Summertime has arrived in Southeast Michigan these days! The temperatures are high, the sun is bright, the water warm and the flowers colorful. I never cease to marvel at the resilience of the natural world.
Trees and bushes that were stark in their nakedness through the months of winter cold gradually showed buds and now can block out light because of the denseness of their leaves. Bulbs hidden in the earth, covered with inches of snow gradually pushed forward from under the ground and blossomed into flowers graced with beauty.
I find myself pondering resilience in some people that I know. The husband/wife who live in a health care facility because the wife suffers from severe memory issues. Day after day, for years now, the husband is there…guiding, loving, caring for the woman he loves. Or the mother in her mid-eighties whose son has moved back into her home, not to assist her but rather because of his health problems and his need for assistance. In church this morning, I observed the attentiveness of parents to their two young children and their boundless energy. Who are some of the individuals you know whose lives speak of resilience?
We experience resilience being restored in our everyday experiences. How replenishing is a good night of sleep, a cold glass of water on a summer day, being deeply listened to by a caring person. Just this week, I read two different authors who spoke to me about good practices when they felt the need to strengthen their resilience. The first author had the opportunity to spend a few days on a small island off the coast of Maine. It wasn’t solitude she found because people were there vacationing and enjoying the sun and water. But for her, it was ‘being away’ and she returned to her home with renewed energy/resilience.
Later during the same week, a friend shared a poem written by a mystic of centuries ago, John of the Cross. He speaks of the need to “dig deep, dig deep” within. I suggest that when our resilience is being put to the test and we feel profoundly challenged, we need to dig deep within to find our values, the Source of our life and energy. We are, after all, each of us created and sustained in existence by a loving, compassionate God who has promised to be with us always.
May you enjoy the days of summer and may you find time to dig deeply and discover the love within.
Margaret Hoey, smr