my heart, a cottonwood seed,
landed on rock instead of soil—
love says, time to trust the wind.
–Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Resilience is our capacity to adapt to adversities and recover from these kinds of experiences and potentially grow even stronger. Like the natural healing capacities of our bodies; our hearts, minds, and spirits also have regenerative powers which can be catalyzed, cultivated, and fortified with our intention and commitment. We all experience various stresses, negativities, traumas, and losses throughout our lives which may diminish and deplete, or they may become sources of deeper wisdom, broader perspectives, greater compassion, and a more durable resilience.
We’ve certainly had no shortage of adverse events in the world around us with the recent tragic events in Minneapolis, the ongoing wars overseas, and the multitude of ways that our liberal religious values are being threatened. Our new year follows extraordinarily rough periods of devastating wildfires in Los Angeles and years of surviving a global pandemic. We also have all faced our own personal challenges, health struggles, and losses. Through all of these experiences we’ve found ways to sustain a community that still cares for its members and friends and is deeply committed to the wellbeing of the communities and world around us.
We practice our Unitarian Universalist faith together in many ways, from participating in our Sunday services to attending Chalice Circles or our meditation groups and all of these practices–and many more–help us to better self-regulate when we’re having to process so much and they aid us in keeping our hearts open amidst all of the adversity, pain, and injustice in the world right now.
We embody resilience day by day, month by month, and year after year. We help each other to bear the weight of these times by spreading it out among us in beloved community and knowing our limits and respecting those of others. Our faith reminds us that even when it feels as though our “heart, a cottonwood seed,” finds itself upon a rock instead of fertile soil, “love says, time to trust the wind.” So let us hold fast to our liberal faith and the values and principles we cherish, knowing we too will be carried by the wind of our dreams and our labors to a better future.
Soul Matters theme-based ministry has generated the following thought-provoking questions to ponder in our small groups and committee meetings this month:
- When do you remember first witnessing one or both of your parents act resiliently? How might that memory have a message for you today?
- Has someone else’s resilience ever helped you survive? When did you not give up because they didn’t give up?
- How has your life partner made you more resilient?
- What is your most beautiful scar? What wound ended up giving you a surprising gift?
- Have you been trying to act strong for far too long?
- What if resilience is not about holding tight against the wind, but letting go and trusting the wind to take you where you need to go next?
- Who are you without your wound?
- Might your resilience be found by releasing yourself from the role your family system has stuck you in?
- If saving the world seems no longer within reach, how might creating islands of sanity be your road back to hope?
- What parts of you did you have to hide to survive? What would it look like to invite them back into the world?
- Why do you keep pushing through when you could save yourself by courageously quitting?
- What if you allowed yourself to be a work in progress?
- What if the biggest secret to resilience is loving it all?
Pastoral Support is available to any members or friends of the congregation who feel they may benefit from confidential and supportive spiritual companionship. To request pastoral support, please email the Pastoral Care Team leaders at pastoralcare@uusm.org or call the church office at (310) 829-5436.
We’d love to hear more from you! If you have a joy or sorrow to share with the community in a Sunday service and in our weekly announcements, please email joysandsorrows@uusm.org or call the church office at the number above.
With love and faith,
Jeremiah
Rev. Jeremiah Lal Shahbaz Kalendae
Developmental Minister
