These words from my long-time trainer …

“Bob, most of training depends on a key element. Strengthening your core. Your core supports your posture, your back. Has a lot to do with your overall physical condition.”

As I look back on another year, one distinct thought keeps coming up. With all the events. All the turmoil. The chaos we’ve experienced in 2022. One thought.

“Never stop being you… never stop being yourself. Never allow events, circumstances separate you from your core values, your core beliefs, your aspirations for your future. My coach always told me, “Hold your space.”

I believe we live providential, predestined lives. Commonly said, “You are here for a purpose.” Another might say it this way. “The purpose of life is to uncover who you really are.” Find that which makes you who you are. It astounds me to see how vast numbers today have little sense of their God given core. That part of you that is immutable. There is a centrality to living a life guided, strengthened by knowing… who you really are. Who you are meant to be. Just like working out. Developing, maintaining a strong body core is a central part of physical strength? So too is focusing on those things… unseen. In your mind and spirit that make you who you are. Things that define your core.

Movement away from the societal core in our country has resulted from a gradual, inch by inch deterioration of values, laws, behaviors that have governed us, fed us for the almost eight decades I’ve been alive. And long before that. War, anger, lies, bitterness of heart. Disregard for human life. Pornography. I could go on. All these have become norms. Movement away from who God calls us to be is unmistakable. Too many of us think, well… “That’s just part of life. That’s just the way it is. ” Wrong. So wrong. What’s happened? What’s happening? Is there a path out of this mess?

Maybe, maybe not. Why …

I remember when gas was $.29 a gallon. That’s right kids… $.29. It crept up and up over time when eventually it hit a threshold. $1.00 a gallon! Everyone went nuts! Today if we can get gas for under $3.00? We’re happy as pigs in slop. Think of water flowing down a mountain that comes to a boulder. It doesn’t try to force its way through. Patiently, water waits until the level rises to the top of the rock… and then softly pours over the top and travels on. Real change on any level… whether they be good or bad occurs gradually … almost imperceptibly. Sinisterly think of Hitler and his march to committing the horrific. Gradual. Evil crept in. Until it was too late.

These experiences inch along. One silent, small step at a time. Until the “you know what” hits the fan!! “How’d this happen? How’d we get here?!” We’ve ignored the essence, the existence of our God given core. That part of us that He blessed us with. So, what’s brought us to this precipice? There are the experts who direct their intellect to the variety of “crises” we face today. Moral? climate, political? global? They have convincing theories on why we’re here.

But you can roll these all up in a ball and and toss them aside. We are in the midst of one crisis and only one… that our gradual slide as a society. We are in the midst of a spiritual crisis. We are leaving God behind. Absent a spiritual awakening? We’re screwed.

Which brings me to the the “Queen.” Someone who refused for seven decades to allow these so called societal “norms” move her from her core… which in her case was her religious faith. Queen Elizabeth II died in September. She was revered and celebrated the world over. War, turmoil, family strife. She held fast. Her core was immovable. A couple others come to mind. Muhammed Ali and Nelson Mandela. Both were known worldwide. Revered. In the face of unimaginable societal pressures… they held fast to their beliefs and values. Both paid a heavy price for doing so. But all three of these icons were immovable. They refused to bend to the pressures of our modern world. They held their space.

And that $.29 gas analogy? A Pew Research study shows that today 64% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. In the’70s… that number was 90%. Do the math. That’s an average of 0.5% a year. Inch by inch. Imperceptible but relentless.

What does this tell me personally. Simply, I choose to just live my life striving to find me. Answer… “Who am I?” Sort through all the stuff thrown my way. Every day. Always holding on tight to my God given core. Sure. Politics, gossip, “cocktail” talk are convenient, easy norms to slide into. None of these strengthen. Contribute much of anything. Our more personal thoughts, challenges are harder to surface in conversation. But I always remember the substantive stuff that comes from interaction with another.

Today I encourage my family to live a life grounded in truth. Be yourself. Strive to know better each day… who you are. Uncover the gifts bestowed on you by God. You’ll never do this perfectly.

But living with an ever-strengthening core? Watch what a difference it makes.