Resilience!

Do you ever pick one word for the year?  A word you focus on, or pray through? The above word dropped in my spirit today. It is not one of my favorite words, because it speaks to something that I wish to avoid. Consider its’ definition;

re·sil·ience/rəˈzilyəns/noun

1. 1. the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness."the often remarkable resilience of so many British institutions"
2. 2. the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity."nylon is excellent in wearability and resilience

I hope you see what I mean – right off the bat it shows that you are going to have to go through something that is not going to be easy. It shows that you may be bent out of shape, twisted, pulled, torn, messed up – yet, with resilience you can snap back into shape. H-m-m-m-m… Do I really want to go through that? Probably not. Yet, what is the alternative?

Just a few of the words that are opposite resilience are: defeatism, despair, despondency, fatalism, negativity, pessimism, cynicism spinelessness… Do I need to go on? I​t appears simple, we can either "man up" and learn how to be resilient or catapult ourselves into a state of misery and despair.

As one of my favorite songs go, I Choose Joy! As much as I don’t like trials and tribulations, I have learned that without a cross there is no crown. Without a defeat there is no victory! The best that we can do when encountering the trials of this life is gird ourselves up in the strength of the Lord, adjust our attitude, and press forward, one step in front of the other, knowing that as surely as you enter a trial, you will exit it also.

Maybe you want to join with me today and have these words fill your spirit with joy:

To tell the truth, this world is full of trouble
And if we live long enough it’s sure to come our way
We’ve a choice to walk in fear and trembling
Or claim the victory that’s already ours this very day

So when I wake and stumble to the mirror
And what I see make me wish
That I could stay in bed
There’s a power deep within my being
And it commands my soul to
Praise the Lord with every breath…I Choose Joy, Larnelle Harris

Maria