One phrase from Richard Rohr and I’m on a roll. He writes of resurrection revealing “just enough now to promise.” In other words, the small “r” resurrections that suffuse our days give an initial experience to prepare us for Jesus’ “Capital R” Resurrection, and are perhaps glimmering offshoots, sparks of his. These can be beloved faces, books that open new windows for mind and heart to explore, travel that reveals unimagined beauties, medical diagnoses not nearly as bad as we dreaded, sweeping vistas of oceans, gardens or mountains, the energy of exercise, the ease of sleep, the accomplishment of tasks large and tiny, the surprises we never thought we’d see…
I marvel at a granddaughter I first cared for when I had to support her wobbly head with my hand on her neck. Eight years later, she starts a load of laundry and makes my breakfast before I’m even out of bed. She wins the readathon for third grade, swims on a team, draws and writes with precision. There’s always such hubbub and commotion around small children—“Do you have your water bottle?” “Where are your shoes?” that we somehow fail to notice the incremental growth, the miraculous unfolding, inch by inch, day after day.
The joyous news of resurrection is now underscored by research on neuroplasticity. Humans have a “negativity bias” that dates back to the days when the survival of the species meant being attuned to warning signals like the approaching footsteps of a hungry lion. In other words, we’re more sensitized to red lights than green lights. But Rick Hanson explains in Hardwiring Happiness that we can build on positive experiences, placing them in the “treasure chest of the heart” to strengthen the neural pathways that heal and uplift. He compares it to growing more flowers and fewer weeds in our inner garden. Mary ran towards joy in a garden and encouraged the other disciples to run away from fear. Similar message in a different, scientific language?