First Baptist Church of Herndon

Resilience

Linda Soller | Apr 30, 2018

At a recent conference I had the privilege of listening to and then meeting Olympic athlete Bonnie St. John. If the name is not immediately familiar you should know a few things about her. She lost her leg at the age of five, but never let it keep her from her dreams. Bonnie became the first African-American ever to win medals in Winter Olympic competition, taking home a silver and two bronze medals at the 1984 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Bonnie is a skier. She told the story of her race. At the end of her first run she was in first place. Early in the second run there was a warning from skiers of an icy patch on the course. In her second run she fell at the icy spot as did nearly every skier. She got up and finished. Bonnie won the bronze medal. She is often quoted as saying the two athletes who beat her had simply gotten up faster. Bonnie is resilient.  

Sometimes we feel overwhelmed and anxious about our lives. When it happens some of us collapse under the pressure. Some of us overcome the obstacles quickly and move on rapidly. Most of us fall somewhere in between. Our resilience, or ability to recover, is tested regularly in big and small ways.  Parents come home from a long day at work and are faced with chores, energetic kids, community commitments, bills to pay, and you get the picture. Any one of those might be manageable. But, often, we face multiple demands on our already weary minds and bodies. Other times the challenges may be fewer in number but monumental in scale. You get a serious health diagnosis, you lose your job, or you lose a loved one. Life is not fair. 

Our faith is a strong tool in building our resilience. With faith we have support and hope. With hope we can stand up and take the next step. In moving forward in life, we are demonstrating resilience. Most of us will never meet the kind of obstacles Bonnie routinely faces. But we can pull from our faith and pray we will have resilience like Bonnie has. With resilience we can dream big and move forward.

Have a great week!  :o) Linda