Mettle: (A quality of endurance and courage) 

This pandemic is testing us.

It’s causing us to develop new skills.

It’s causing us to try new things.

It’s causing us to address issues that should have been addressed before. It’s causing us to address issues we didn’t know we had.

It’s testing our character. We are concerned about aging parents in care facilities. We are concerned if the children in our households are getting the education they need.

As the tensions mount, we make choices and we act. It’s what we do.

I was reading a Bible passage in Colossians 3:12-17 this week. It gave this instruction: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”

I’ve read this passage often. I’ve interpreted it to mean that I should choose to be “compassionate,” “kind,” “humble,” “mild,” and “patient.”

But through the years I’ve learned you don’t switch on those character traits like a light. You exhibit those things through steady action. You show up. You bear through the tough things together. You deal with the tension with a bit of prayer and by taking things one step at a time. You receive help from others, and you give help to others.

You’ve shown extraordinary endurance and resourcefulness in helping our enterprise maintain its course. I’m incredibly grateful. It’s an inspiration.

Use that same mettle to keep your life outside work online as well. It’s tough, but it can be done. You have what it takes.