Approx. read time: 2:30 min.

In this unrehearsed season which rattles every aspect of life, I share with you my practices and commitments, in the hope that they will inspire you to fortify your own interior resilience.

My practices

• I pray, intercede, and give thanks daily, as I always do
• I practice prudent health and self care, as I always do
• I immerse myself in Creation weekly, as I always do

My commitments

• I commit to loving my world, my nation, my community, with a purifying intensity
• I commit to showing up for those at the margins of my town, with steadfast faithfulness
• I commit to following health protocols for my own good and the good of those I encounter, with wholehearted cooperation

Reflection on a word

I am thinking about resilience these days. Resilience is the word I want to share with you.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back to center, to maintain balance especially in the rough patches of stormy sea. 

Interiorly, resilience is the ability to “stay afloat” in challenging times, to not be crushed by massive waves of loss and disorientation and anguish.

Resilience is the discipline of remaining connected to, and drawing strength from, what—or Whom—holds your life together. 

For me, this Whom is the risen Christ, of whom the Apostle Paul writes: “In him all things continue in being.” 

In him—the risen Christ—all things hold together, are held together, especially in the seasons when everything seems to be falling apart.

Resilience is both a gift and a daily discipline. It doesn’t “just happen.”

How do you build resilience? What is the discipline?

One word leads to two words

“Stay awake,” Jesus says to those who doze, unprepared, like the thoughtless bridesmaids awaiting—and missing—the arrival of the groom.

“Stay awake,” Jesus says twice to his closest followers who doze as he sweats blood, knowing that the time of his arrest is at hand.

“Stay awake,” I urge myself, and urge you, too. 

Stay connected to the divine core of your being, the molten core which is pure, and larger than yourself.

I call this divine core of my being the Spirit of the risen Christ.

Stay awake when drowsiness would distract you from the peril, the challenge, and the unexpected invitations of the moment at hand.

Staying awake is hard, when the wash of dreadful news is unsettling, discouraging, unending.

Stay awake, I say, because at any moment the Spirit of the risen Christ will anoint you to love your world in healing ways, anoint you to show up in helpful and compassionate ways, anoint you to carry out instructions for the good of us all.

The moment to stay awake is upon us now. 

You and I are here, now, because, for reasons beyond our understanding, we have been deemed suitable to be the messengers of what is new and worthy, chosen to be vessels of light and possibility, encouragement and healing and peace.

Find encouragement and refreshment for your day in my spoken-word video, “I Need to Touch Things That Last.”

My new spoken-word album, Living as Jesus Taught, is ready for you at Apple Music or wherever you get your tunes.

I want to hear from you! And please, share this blog with your friends!

Photo credit: Mary Sharon Moore, Sunrise over San Antonio, 2016