Thriving in Adversity
We are excited to share these words of encouragement from our friend Jerome Daley of Thrive 9 Solutions.
Jerome Daley is an executive coach, retreat leader, and conflict consultant who is passionate about helping leaders thrive...and build thriving organizational cultures. With over 20 years in people development, he strengthens leaders in the journey toward true identity and vocational calling.
Making his home in the mountains of North Carolina, he and his wife Kellie are parents of three grown children. His great delights are taking spiritual retreats, backpacking in the mountains, and playing with his grandson.
Take care of yourselves through the duration of this social distancing, shelter in-place, and lockdown (quarantine). We all have souls, bodies, and minds that need to be cared for. Take care of your spiritual, physical and mental health!
Transcript Below:
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“Hey!
Good morning folks.
It's an early Saturday morning, although it doesn't always feel like Saturday. We're in such a strange season here that the weekdays and the weekends sort of blur together, but that has its own sort of beauty as well.
This is Jerome. I'd like to share a few thoughts with you today on how to thrive when we're on lockdown.
Such a Time as This
Last year I got trained for a disaster assistance response team. I haven't even been deployed yet, but when there's a disaster anywhere in the world I can get called up and asked to get on a plane within 24 hours.
I'm learning that first responders are a bit of a different breed. As you know, when everyone else is running away from a crisis this bunch is running toward the problem. And it makes for a kind of a different mindset. So, when tragedy strikes first responders grieve along with everyone else. There's a loss that we've experienced as a community. But you know part of them gets excited. It's kind of strange, but it's like man this is what I was trained for, this is what I’m meant to do.
And so here's the connection, Christianity was forged in crisis. And as Christ's followers, we’re meant for such a time as this - like for real.
Self-Care
Unfortunately, the church doesn't always equip us to actually be the hands and feet of Jesus. A lot of times there's more attention paid to just making our lives comfortable. And I'm not trying to be critical. I'm trying to say that this is our time as believers; and the Coronavirus has really provided us with an amazing opportunity to love and serve people right when they're at their most vulnerable.
And that's not to be uncaring about the actual suffering that's taking place, because that touches all of us. And we do grieve that. But here's the thing: for us to be able to respond to other people well, we've got to be healthy ourselves. So I want to talk a little bit about that.
The training I attended last month with this group, this response group, was on spiritual and emotional first aid and that was one of the things they really emphasize - self-care. So, if we're going to be any good for those that are around us we've got to be healthy ourselves. Remember the whole “put on your own oxygen mask first thing”? You know this is kind of the same sort of deal.
We have to be really receiving the life and sustenance that we need in our own soul so that we can be a life and sustenance to others.
An Inner Gyroscope
Okay, a little bit of a flyer here but it'll tie in. Remember what a gyroscope is? Wikipedia tells me that the first use was back in 1743 although it didn't really see widespread industrial application until the next century. But essentially, a gyroscope works by putting some sort of a disk into motion and then that disk is mounted in a frame that can move every direction, horizontally and vertically. So that disk, once it starts spinning, it just keeps spinning. And it keeps spinning in the same direction no matter how the orientation of the frame goes.
I've printed out this little diagram. I don't understand any of those words but that's the basic idea of it. So, that little disk gets spinning. It's probably not little. It probably has some size to it, some mass so that as long as that motion stays going, you have a true north that you can work from.
And so, this was put into airplanes and ships and submarines and used for navigation because it would be a fixed point no matter whether you're in the fog or upside down or sideways. It's orienting, it holds its direction.
And that's something that I think is a beautiful example of what our hearts really need in a time where everything feels a little bit off-kilter. We need that inner gyroscope going. We need that true north that just holds us. This is what's true. This is what's good. This is what's beautiful. This is how to stay aligned in a life that is really strange, really disorienting. Right?
Renewal and Reflection
So, I've been thinking about what are some of the things that can function like a gyroscope. For me, I've been reaching for this for myself, and for me right now one of those things is Lent.
Maybe you've been following my weekly post on Lent. This is really the first year I've engaged this practice in a more intentional way, and it's been something that keeps bringing me back, in a sense, to to a way of being in the world and a place to focus some of my attention. Which, is on this 40 days of renewal, this 40 days of reflection. Just being before God, saying, “Lord what would you have to say to me in this time?” You know, kind of an additional attentiveness.
It's been challenging for me, but it's been a securing force for me. There's sort of a continuity and a stability to staying in step with this ancient rhythm that moves us from Ash Wednesday to Easter. This is a rhythm that's been in place for, well a couple thousand years in some form. So, it's a gyroscope that doesn't wobble with the news. It doesn't flip flop around.
Experiencing God’s Creation
Another thing that's been a gyroscope for me that I commend to you is the outdoors. You know, getting outside, if you can get outside. Some of my friends on the west coast where their lockdown is on a whole other level. My heart is with them.
Those of us in other places of the country that still have the freedom to be able to get outside and take a hike; or, I got on my first road bike trip of the the season. Trip - just, you know, out for an hour. And on the Parkway it was beautiful. It was refreshing.
It's more than just fresh air, which is a good thing. The outdoor is, the creation of God is rooted like literally rooted. There's a stability to it and it stays doing its thing no matter the human drama taking place around us.
And that's just sort of realigning for me. Being out in that space and experiencing God and the beauty in the new flowers that are starting to come here as spring emerges. That's a gyroscope for my soul.
The Lord’s Prayer
One more for you. You can think of many of these, I'm sure. And I encourage you to think of what are the things that really secure the heart when there's a bit of a storm outside.
The Lord's Prayer is one of those things for me, and I'm just wondering when's the last time you've prayed the Lord's Prayer?
Some of you are in more liturgical traditions and that's a regular part of your practice. But for the first four decades of my life… You know, I I knew it. I read it when I would read through the Bible. But, it wasn't really something I ever prayed out. I mean, just like every now and then. Maybe a handful of times.
These days Kellie and I are praying it most days as we end our time of centering prayer together. And it's just, I find it orienting. You know, it's just like covering some of the true… the things that are most true in the world. You know, that we have a father who lives in heaven - the kingdom of heaven. And that his name is beautiful and hallowed. And asking for God's will to be done, especially when people are suffering. And God's will to be done in my own life, in the lives of those around me.
These these are just things that are deeply true. My need for forgiveness, the call for me to forgive and to be sustained in an evil time. So, that might be something to kind of, as it were, blow the dust off of and enjoy that prayer, that's been an orienting force for centuries.
Media and the News
Quick word of caution on something that can be disorienting in our lives, and that is bringing on the news. So you know, when things are strange and intimidating, it’s super easy just to kind of glut ourselves with information.
And the media channels - man, they'll fill every moment with commentary and there's some good things to be had there, but there's also something that tends to dull and disorient the soul with media. Media can become sort of a drug that feeds on itself. The more you hear the more you want. And it's something we kind of… we're looking for a little bit of control in a time that feels out of control. And, information sometimes can feel that way. Sometimes it's more just trying to salve our personal anxiety or just kind of curious about how it's affecting the rest of the world.
But these dynamics, when you hit a certain threshold, it tends to actually inflame anxiety and and erode our stability. And it certainly can just be a distraction from the opportunities that are really around us to be present to our worlds in a new way. So, when life gets strange we have the chance to do some things differently.
Intentional Love and Care
So, let's get back to this idea of being a first responder with the love and care of Christ. What could that look like?
Well, love and care begins in the home, so we have an opportunity to engage our spouse and our children in more intentional ways. You know, play games together, go for a hike, make fun food, talk…
We've got a lot of really, really precious ways to be together as families even reaching out to our extended family, folks that we may not talk with all that often. You know, call or Skype, or Zoom, or whatever. But, you know, we've got some space.
I know most of us are still working in some form. It's not like we're on vacation. But, we also have some opportunities, some space here.
Neighbors are the ones that often have, we have the most physical proximity to, like our natural neighbors, those that live up and down the street from us especially those that might be sick or old. And if you're, again, not completely sequestered, look for practical ways to be of help to those that are in need.
You know, maybe someone needs some help picking up groceries or with some other practical… you know, medicine.
Think about your co-workers you know. You may still be engaging with them online and in important ways. This can be an opportunity to really check on their souls, you know, ask how they're doing in a meaningful way. And, you know, to whatever extent feels authentic to really reach for, you know what's… like how are you doing really, and maybe even sharing some of the things that you're working through, either the challenges that you're feeling or the opportunities that you're experiencing.
You're probably thinking of even more groups, people that you can connect with. Let's let God stir our hearts with fresh compassion and creative ways to express that love and care.
A friend of mine told me this week that he was trying to just patronize the local restaurants to do takeout. So that's still available here. And that's like, oh man, that's brilliant. What a beautiful way to continue to serve our local economy especially those that are just really taking it on the chin right now, which our restaurants are and then many of our service industries are.
So, that's just a kind and creative way to continue to love and serve people.
Constant Uncertainty
Just a couple last thoughts before I let you go into your Saturday. A couple of other potential benefits for being in a season like this that's really tough, and the first is this sense of solidarity.
Much of the world lives with some form of this kind of uncertainty and threat, not a virus but something. Whether it's food insecurity or they're displaced and there's some sort of threat facing them on on a daily or regular basis.
We can't really comprehend that as Americans, but this is true and I think that going through, probably for the first time ever, a truly global crisis reminds us that we are connected to the rest of the world. And I hope that it brings a fresh sense that we need to be in love and prayer for those that are in need no matter where they are, that experience this on a much more severe level and a much more frequent level.
Our world's going to return to normal in a relatively short amount of time, but that won't be true for many. So let's pray for those who are dealing with anxiety pretty much constantly.
Humility and Rest
And then, humility is the next and last point that I wanted to just mention with you and here's what I mean by that. We probably know folks that are just so driven in their work that they basically work themselves until they get sick. And maybe we've been that person. Just find it in ourselves to pull back and take a weekend or take a Sabbath.
So it's just push, push, push. And at some point their body says hey you're abusing me I'm quitting. It's kind of a sense of taking a forced rest, a forced sabbatical.
Maybe there's some sense, I definitely don't see this virus as punitive, but I do think that sometimes just the laws of nature do catch up with us and that there's an invitation to rest. We’re called to a rhythm of work and rest. And sometimes, life comes to sort of collect its due of lost Sabbath. And it's just sort of a law of nature
So that's a gift, and I think maybe the the thing I most want to leave with you today is that there is a gift within every difficult space and difficult season. Let's find that gift.
Let's care well for ourselves and for our families. And let's care well for those that are around us.
Alright, sound like a good thing?
Alright, love and peace.”