It’s tornado season.  It’s only March but this year, tornado season started early.  A sudden swooshing wind wiped whole towns away.  We see it on the news, those poor people standing in front of a pile of rubble that used to be their home.  The home where they laughed and cried, had memories and made memories.  That home is no more. 

The very next week, many of those whose homes blew away will be back doing what they do.  Some will return to school, others will return to work.  They’ll rebuild or they won’t.  There will be another home but it will never be the same.  The memories that came before the tornado will become oral stories because the wind shredded their images and mementos.    

Their lives are changed, they’ll never feel quite the same; but they will carry on.  That is what we do, we carry courageously on.  At some point, once they’re settled in another home, life will return to a semblance of normal.  It won’t be the same normal, it will be a new normal.  They will each have faced grave danger and the ravages of nature.  Their resilience will kick-in and each will courageously find their own new normal.  They will return to laughter and tears as they create new memories.

We each face challenges in life.  Sometimes they are the big challenges like having your home blown off the face of the earth or job loss or cancer or the loss of someone we love.  We endure; we stand tall and manage through with inner fortitude.  Each day, we take small steps til one day we realize we’re doing okay.

We also face those mid-level challenges, the stuff than can be with us every day, demanding our attention.  It may be we have a secure job but we don’t like it.  Or, we’re worried about our children as we wonder whether it’s a phase or something else.  Mid-level challenges can be wearying.

We also face the challenge of living in our crazy, wonderful world.  Our world is busy and demanding.  Headline news shouts for our attention while the pace can feel somewhat frenzied, that life is racing right by.

Fortunately, we don’t all have our biggest challenges at the same time.  We can be there for those who are confronted with something big and they, in turn, can be there for us when we are the challenged.    

It’s a balance.  Sometimes we have big challenges.  Other times life can feel like a breeze.  It’s our resiliency, our willingness to stay the course that gets us through.  We are resilient as individuals, as families, as communities and as a nation.  We stand tall and follow our personal path. 

Persistence and resilience come in many styles.  We each bring our unique ways, stamping our tenacity and resilience with our individual hallmarks.  Instead of resilience, however I like to think of it as everyday courage, that we each practice our unique form of daily courage.

Everyday courage might be the act of getting up in the morning after losing a loved one or even a job.  It might require even more courage to face the day after that and the day after that. 

Everyday courage might be the act of forgiveness.  It might be hearing your children differently.  It might even be sharing a personal something you’ve long held in your heart. 

Everyday courage is alive and well; it is a part of the human way.