A couple years ago, I sat down in a bookstore and read Navy SEAL Eric Greiten’s first book, The Heart And The Fist and subsequently wrote a review. In my bookstore exploration I also discovered he had just written a new book, Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom For Living A Better Life. During that time I also discovered Greitens was also running for Governor of Missouri.
Honestly, the title of Greitens’ book (along with the excellence of his other book) drew me toward reading it. Whether in discussing the lives of farmers and their families in our work at Nuru or talking about personal perseverance, the word resilience has become quite a popular word in my estimation. And, similar to Greitens, I also believe that resilience is a skill to be developed as well as a purposeful way of living life. As he says, “Resilient people do not bounce back from hard experiences, they find healthy ways to integrate them into their lives.” And “Resilience is the key to a well-lived life.”
The book was originally a set of letters sent to a friend and fellow SEAL who was encountering a series of hardships back on the home front. Greitens edited the letters to make them available and accessible to a wider audience, and they really are robust and thoughtful pieces whether read individually or as a whole. As I read the book, I found myself filled with gratitude for incredible friends who have (similar to Eric with his friend) spoken truth and shared wisdom with me.
The chapters of the book walk through subjects including why resilience is important and what it is, and then offers a series of practical tools that everyone should seek out to develop their own resilience. Greitens reminds his friend (and his readers that everyone can develop resilience, but no one can do it for you, and it takes time, intentionality, and hard work. He also spends chapter after chapter reminding his readers of the tools and benefits of resilience, and roots his writing in both lived experience and historic literature.
If you are looking for a book to explore and improve your own resilience, I highly recommend Resilience by former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. It bears repeating though that buying the book will not develop your resilience. Only you can do that, and the fact that you can do it is, in itself, an incredible gift. May we each seek the mentors, the motivation, and the mindful discipline to cultivate resilience in our lives for the good of ourselves and our world.
I finished a one year program for nonprofit leaders at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in May, and was invited back to campus this past fall to contribute to the learning of the incoming class. I also accepted an invitation to become a member of 
Jamie started back to work at Healthworks in February after her maternity leave. She’s an incredibly gifted and compassionate aquatic rehabilitation therapist, and it is a delight to see her serve so many and help people improve their wellbeing as she works with them in the pool. She has continued serving as a Congressional District Leader for the 
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Each time I visited, we would sit in the dining room and share stories about what was happening in our lives. He would, without fail, gesture to the dining room table, which was his grandmother’s and had been kept in the family for generations. He would say, “Billy, there have been some pretty amazing Christians who have sat at this table for generations. Everyone from my grandmother, to my mother, to my brother Raincrow, and guests from all over the world. Including Dr. Alexander Reed, a missionary to Africa. And now, Billy, you are continuing that tradition.” I always considered it a privilege to sit in his dining room and catch up, and talk about life, tradition, and faith.
Flying Duck was also a silversmith. In fact, he and his son Barry, were among the few remaining silversmiths in our tribal community. For generations, Shawnee people have worked with silver. And back in 2010, I visited Flying Duck with my best friend in the whole world Willie to ask for his help in creating an engagement ring for my future wife. I showed him a few photos of us on my phone, and shared stories around how we met. He listened, and told me he felt honored that I would ask him, but that he was not able to do smithing with that level of detail anymore. While I was disappointed that he would not be able to help with the ring, I was grateful for being able to sit and share stories together one more time.
Long before any of these moments, there was a moment when I was much younger that I remember sitting and listening at the doorstep of our tribal council house as Flying Duck and some others discussed their shared faith, our historic traditions, and navigating life in a fast-changing world. Flying Duck saw me sitting on the stoop, and invited me into the conversation. He invited me to share perspectives, but really all I wanted to do was listen—and so listen I did. The moment was pretty magical for me; I was sitting and listening to the wisdom of elders that had been passed along for generations. Flying Duck and a handful of others gave me such incredible gifts during that time, gifts that helped me grow in my faith as well as in my own sharing of stories.
