Sitting in church and this week’s sermon was on Resilience.
At least, I think it was.
That was the word that was up on the screen, followed by a photo of the Eagles win and I remember a comment being made about the ‘Resilient Eagles’.
Beyond that, I must admit, like many Sunday mornings I didn’t hear the rest of the message. Instead my eyes were following the little person that I had just put on the floor in front of me. He is so close to crawling. His little legs get underneath him and he rocks, swivels and then sits back down. I’m afraid if I take my eyes off of him he will work it out. He will make that first intentional move forward and I will miss it!
But that was all I needed. That reminder about resilience.
Occasionally it dawns on me just how much kids that enter the foster care have lost.
I guess when you live it everyday and the children become your children, or your best friends children, it looses it’s sting a little.
Not in terms of the need, or the challenge of raising them.
More simply, the sting of the loss that they have endured.
Sometimes before a baby has even learnt to crawl, he has said goodbye to his mother. Her father. A grandma. Cousins. Brothers. Sisters. Before they have had had a chance to learn their name, they have lost their identity.
That is hard. That is heavy. That isn’t fair.
But more often then not, that isn’t the end of the story.
There is hope and a future for everyone.
The kids that graduate high school after saying goodbye to their home at some point in their life. They are resilient.
The kids that show up at a birthday party ready to celebrate a friend when they have had to say goodbye to all their friends. They are resilient.
The toddler who runs to the arms of another to be comforted when they fall and runs off again to kick that ball after being left alone for hours. They are resilient.
The baby who learns to crawl while another mummy watches over him.
That is resilience.
Resilience
“The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.”
May we look at the little people in our lives and not see their challenges – instead all that they have had to recover from.
“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah29:11
