Several years back, Gerry Dehkes, one of our ANE Board Members, put on an incredible presentation for our members on the subject of resilience that has continued with us these many years. In further demonstration of the remarkable connection between resilience and faith that was completely on display during Gerry’s presentation, we offer the following analysis for consideration.

What IS resilience? Most say it is the ability to handle things. Actually, people readily connect the concept with resolve, endurance or strength--the notion of standing up to something. But what resilience really means at its core has nothing to do with that. Resilire, the Latin root word borrowed to create the concept of resilience, actually means “to jump or leap back” or “rebound”.

So at its core, resilience is actually about movement. It is about leaping, usually in a forward direction from where we currently stand. We all know that when we jump, we never land in the same place twice. It is about pushing yourself into the air in a definite and forceful way. We have to let go of the ground to experience that displacement. We make the choice to move from where we have been to where we want to go. We embrace the act of leaping in space regardless of what brought us to the need for action. Because we do not resign ourselves to standing still and continuing to expose ourselves to that inertia, enough we say! We are determined! And we take that leap.

But what is most interesting about the particular kind of motion that comes with a jump or leap is that the destination is undetermined when we take the action. The place we end up is farther from than where we started. We hope we land on two feet and away from whatever caused us to take the leap. But we simply do not know what awaits us there until we land. So in order to be resilient, we must take a leap of faith that something better lies ahead even if it is not what we wish for or hope for or planned to happen.

Join us next Tuesday, February 9 as we explore together the amazing concept of resilience.

Tuesday, February 9, 8:00 a.m. EST
Call in number: (712) 775-7031
Enter ID #: 251-410-597