Faint vs Flourish: What’s the Best Way to Approach Adversity?
Adversity. Merriam Webster defines adversity as a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune. So - we, as a people, tend to embrace the idea of adversity with optimism and exhilaration, right? Not exactly. I would venture to guess that many people respond to potential adversity with dread and anxiousness…like I do (ok, I admit it…didn’t I read, somewhere, that admitting it is the hardest step?). So, let’s make it personal. How would we respond to an adverse situation? There are all kinds of misfortune, affliction – even calamity. How about Coronavirus?
I have a precious friend who is a healthcare worker. She is one of many frontline heroes who do not have the benefit of teleworking, like I do. She is an “essential worker”, a nurse who is caring for patients every day without adequate PPE (personal protective equipment). As I write this, she is awaiting test results for COVID-19. While she has been waiting, she has been creating a call to action. She is, in her “jammies”, recording videos imploring people to mobilize and contact, as she has, her local, state, and federal representatives about the failure of a system to provide adequate PPE for healthcare workers. Because she is weak, she sleeps for long periods of time, but wakes to fight for people like my friend who is a respiratory therapist (who has asthma herself), my sister-in-law who is a nurse, another friend who is a physician’s assistant, and many others in the health care industry…all, potentially, without what they need to keep themselves healthy. Wow…how do I respond to adversity? What does her response require?
Faith…This morning, I read a precious account of a child’s tremendous faith in light of the adversity of this pandemic, “stay at home” orders, a total change to life as we know it. His father did his nightly security check of their home, only to find a painting depicting the blood of the lamb painted over the doors by the Israelites in Egypt. In the painting, there were three doors, and the father assumes there was one for each of them in the family. Exodus 12:13 says, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” What a response to adversity this child has! We easily throw around words like “resilient” when we are talking about children, but children are truly strong. There is so much that they can teach us…like little Josie, picking up seashells…you would never know the pain and discomfort she has endured from a back brace for much of her young life. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 24:10 “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small”. I don’t know about you, but I want to grow my strength through my faith.
Blessings ~
Lisa