Dr. Mary C. McDonald
It was the night of the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. This year’s contest at the dinner was cake decorating. Each Den, as those small groups of Cub Scouts are called, was required to decorate a cake for the contest as a team, with no outside help. Several months earlier, in a lapse of clear thinking, I had agreed to be a Den Mother. Every Wednesday after school eight third grade boys, including my son, gathered at our house. As Den Mother, I presided over what can only be described as controlled chaos. The boys’ end of the day pent-up energy exploded as we got busy with the required activities for the weekly meetings. Actually, I enjoyed it. However, this cake decorating contest was a bit of a stretch since my contribution to pot luck suppers had traditionally been the paper products. I can actually attest to the fact that the only help I provided was overseeing the oven. The theme for the contest was sports. My Den chose fishing, and decided to depict it by carving a fish shape out of a sheet cake. They were totally engaged in mixing up a bowl of grey-green icing and smearing it on their “fish”. They completed their work with a piece of licorice in the shape of a hook coming out of the mouth of the fish. I had to admit, it really looked like a dead fish; not appealing, nor appetizing, but realistic.
I knew that we were the Bad News Bears of cake decorating that night when they placed the dead fish cake next to the magnificent five tiered cake that depicted the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, with twenty-seven sporting events represented. It reminded me of the dreaded Science Fairs. You know, the ones where the project to see if plants grow better with Gatorade than water, is sandwiched between the project that splits the atom, and the one that invents DNA. My little Cubs had worked hard on their cake, and I was proud of them. Coming in last can be a mixed blessing. Mixed blessings always bring the seed of resilience. Resilience is that capacity to face, overcome, and even be transformed by adversity, great or small. Resilience is the belief that the future will be good. It is hope.
We all have disappointments and adversity. We work hard, do our best, yet we fall short of our goal. We all experience losses, great or small. Some face stress such as illness, divorce, or unemployment, while others confront catastrophes such as war, poverty, or earthquakes. There are many accounts of people facing and overcoming adversity in their lives in spite of the fact that their circumstances predicted that the adversity would overcome them. Resilience is a resource to be learned that allows us to see beyond disappointments, as well as catastrophes. The mixed blessing that comes with any difficult circumstance is resilience. It is that blessing of courage and hope that strengthens the human spirit, which we never expected when things don’t look good. Resilience is the reason we can endure dreadful headlines and small defeats with a sadness tempered by hope. Resilience is strengthened when failures, great or small become learning experiences; and life’s circumstances, good or bad, are used as opportunities for continuous improvement. Resilience is not about events that break your back, but rather, events that bend your knee. Resilience is rooted in prayer, inner peace, and a trust in God that is supported by no evidence nor reason, but only faith. So, when you pray for God’s blessing on whatever is happening in your life, include in your prayer the wisdom to recognize the mixed blessings we sometimes receive as God’s gift of resilience.
