Don’t Let Disaster Keep You Down

Fall In Love With Your Future 7.0

Someone once made the point that it’s a bad idea to become accustomed to good luck. Risk of disaster is part of life. A child dies as a result of e-coli infected water at an amusement park. An earthquake wipes our an entire city, leaving thousands homeless, without power, and grieving lost loved ones

Sometimes tragedy strikes out of the blue. Sometimes it comes with advance warnings. Either way it usually knocks us breathless, whether it happens to us, to a friend, or to perfect strangers.

In spite of the heartache and scars, many 2005 Hurricane Katrina victims reported that adversity has one powerful advantage. It takes away all non-essentials and gives us no recourse but to rely on God and on our God- given strengths. It forces us to look at our core values.

After disaster, we often get sympathy and some kind of help for our misfortune.  This is comforting for a while.  Then at some point, the compassion fails to nourish and we realize there is no release from the weight of calamity until we take action ourselves. The action might involve finding a healthy way to work through the grief.  It might involve forgiveness.  It might involve rebuilding or laboring toward a change.

Jan Scruggs, a Vietnam veteran who lost his best friends in combat, decided to build the Vietnam Memorial as a testament to soldiers who gave up their lives in the war.  Talking about Vietnam was not popular in 1980, but he knew the war experience needed to be healed—not forgotten.  In the process of standing firm in his resolve, Scruggs broke through what the disaster had done to his psyche and fell in love with his future again.

We can go beyond disaster.  The key is to revisit our core values and then go to work on a goal that touches head, heart, and spirit.