Bitter or Better - 7
As many of you know, my youngest daughter, Meg, broke her femur clear through and split her knee joint as well a little more than three weeks ago while roller skating in a skate pool. I’m not gonna lie… this has been a hard time. BUT, it has also been an immense blessing. She and I were pretty down a few days ago. As we talked, it became apparent that much of our sadness stemmed from dwelling on the future… a future that neither of us knows. I read Matthew 6 to her, emphasizing the last part where Jesus says, Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. We both know that focusing on the possible, imagined troubles of the future leads to anxiety and even hopelessness.
I am so sad that my baby girl is going through so much right now even though I recognize these trials as coming from the hand of God. I reminded her that God teaches those He loves and those lessons often don’t come easily. She can see that the Lord is growing her in compassion, patience and thankfulness. At the same time she wishes, as I do too, that it would all be over, that we would wake up from this nightmare.
When I pass through difficulties and when I watch others trudge through trials, I am aware that bitterness can creep in. Bitterness is a poisonous weed that kills. It kills slowly. It kills painfully. It roots in our hearts and is not easily removed. When we try to pull it, it just breaks off at the top like crabgrass in a flower bed. Jesus must pull it. Beg him to pull it if you are being overtaken with this weed.
With a godly perspective, trials can make us better. A lot better sometimes. Hmmm, I thought, as I spoke with Meg. Bitter or better? The difference in English between these words is one little letter. Sometimes the outcome of our sufferings for good or for bad is seemingly small as well. Killing bitterness and cultivating better-ness sometimes happens by doing things that seem small:
Having a perspective where God is our Father who cares for us
Trusting that trials are in God’s control
Reading His word
Sharing our pain with friends who will direct us where we have forgotten to go
Being still before God
Being humble, coming to the feet of our Lord in prayer, sharing our broken hearts
Will our sufferings make us bitter or better?
Romans 5:3-6
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
