Follow the Beard
My Dad is Dying – Part 3
Part 3 – Bitterness is the poison that will kill you and your closest friends.
Nobody gets bitter at a stranger. A stranger might do something mean to you and you might get mad, but you usually can forget about it in a couple days. Bitterness is different. Bitterness is personal. It turns friends into enemies. It turns love into hate. It’s an evil that sinks in slowly – like the constant drip…drip…drip of a leaky faucet. Each drip watering the bitter roots as they grow deeper into your heart. Bitterness can make you hate the people who love you the most: Your brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, moms, and dads. Bitterness is from hell.
I want Grace.
Grace forgives.
Grace is the rain that causes all the flowers to bloom.
Grace blows you head over heels, and leaves you smiling and speechless.
Grace rejoices to make enemies into friends.
Grace heals wounds.
Grace is beautiful.
Grace resurrects the dead.
Grace is from heaven.
“Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” Hebrews 12:12-15
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this is beautifully said. thanks for sharing.
I had forgotten Mr. Yuk.
I think you handled this tough subject well.
seems like bitterness is about control.
in some ways we “like” being bitter because it is something over which we feel we have control.
the only way to resolve the bitterness is to relinquish that control…
and letting go is not easy…
Keep up the good work, Tim.
I am glad to once again peer into your mind as I did when we were co-laborers.
I hope that you all are well.
yeah, i think you’re right about the control thing. it’s very deceptive though because you aren’t really in control. it just feels that way.
“the letting go” of forgiveness is real freedom. you have to realize that you are never in control. God is.
bitterness is an act of revenge in your heart. it fools you into thinking you are only seeking justice. but God’s justice is not really in the picture. it is living as if God does not exist will not be just, so I can justify being a jerk to the people who wrong me. the scary thing is that i so easily get this way, but don’t even see it. to see it with my Dad took hearing that he was dying and realizing how cold i was. then i started seeing how it had crept into several other close relationships i have. it was extremely eye opening.
thank you, stranger ben.
thanks, josh. always glad to hear your comments.