A Bible Verse for Challenging Times

1 Corinthians 16 has a prescription for living through hard times that I have returned to again and again: “Keep alert. Stand firm in your faith. Be courageous. Be strong. Let all you do be done in love.”

Maybe it might help you as it’s helped me. Let’s break it down into its component parts:

Keep alert: Stay informed. Make sure you’re watching for every opportunity to contribute. Listen to wise voices. That kind of vigilance means you’ll need breaks–laughter with friends, walks in the woods, rest. That’s fine. Take them.

Stand firm in your faith: Hope. Believe in something. Maybe for you that’s a higher power. Maybe it’s believing in all the good people who are fighting the good fight. Maybe it’s believing in the long game when the short game is disappointing. But believe.

Be courageous: Maya Angelou said courage is the virtue that makes all the other virtues possible. Courage requires thinking of yourself as the subject, not the object, as the actor, not the acted upon. Put your thoughts there. Support courageous individuals and organizations.

Be strong: Speak up. Show up. Agency is a muscle. Exercise it so it stays healthy and powerful. Draw strength from the things that give it, like the Truth. When you’re flagging, find your way to a strong friend and check in. Strength is contagious. Let all you do be done in love: Don’t give way to hating. Don’t let the storms change you. Stay compassionate. Keep your heart big and your arms open. Take care of something. Take care of someone. Take care of yourself.

Amen. And amen.