resilience

Each year at school, Lucy welcomes the faculty with an opening talk/homily. I've heard 14 of them at St. Andrew's now...yikes...has it really been that long? (Lucky me!) But this year's struck me as particularly meaningful, perhaps because the theme for the school year is one that resonates with me: resilience. It's long been the quality that I would list right up there in my top 5 if I were to list the qualities that would help someone lead the best life possible - for themselves and for others. So when Lucy spoke about it, I was all ears. In her words, "Resilience is the capacity to rise above difficult circumstances, the trait that allows is to exist in this less-than-perfect world while moving forward with optimism and confidence even in the midst of adversity. Resilience is commonly defined as the ability to recover from setbacks, the quality of bouncing back."
I've always thought of it as bouncing back - much like a rubber band. But I've never thought of resilience as the thing that helps us navigate an imperfect world with optimism and confidence. I loved that last part!
So here's to resilience for all of us...for trusting (or having faith, however you want to phrase it) that what is ahead is worth moving forward for...for believing that we have that strength within us...and when we question that, that we have people around us to remind us.