Resiliency is Tremendous

• November 30, 2020

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. Living in the northeast part of the United States, autumn is a spectacular event that spans several months. Fall is also the time of harvest where we reap what we have sown. This year presented an interesting couple of seasons. In mid-March, I, like the rest of the world, had to pivot with purpose, not with pain, as our world took a very different turn.

My father, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, wrote a bestselling book in 1965 that has never gone out of print. The title of this motivational classic is Life is Tremendous, and in it, he extols the virtues and transformative power of enthusiasm. After dealing with the events of 2020, I think it’s safe to say that even when life is not tremendous, we can make it so by our inherent resiliency. There’s a term in leadership literature called adaptive capacity. A person can make lemonade when life gives them lemons.

I can remember growing up hearing that we were nothing more than evolved animals subject to fight or flight instincts when faced with a challenge or crisis. But we are so much more than that. True greatness lies not in the ability to go on the attack or run away, but in humankind’s ability to adapt. Our adaptive capacity enables us to turn a mess into a blessing, a test into a testimony. But this transformation doesn’t happen automatically. The very same thing that kills some makes others stronger.

The reason for a victorious emergence from any degree of hardship occurs when you awaken the Imago Dei, the God seed, within. When we unleash our innate great, amazing things begin to happen from the inside out. Have you acknowledged and owned your regenerative nature?