Bitterness Be Gone

Good morning!

This morning I was thinking about bitterness. Every time I say or think that word, a picture of a worm comes to mind. In our garden, finding a worm in our bell peppers or tomatoes spells destruction. That squirmy wormy, while happily munching till his tummy takes on a big circular shape, makes me sick when I discover him. Anything a worm eats, we cannot, because he destroys it. That's the same thing bitterness does in a heart. It just stuffs the heart and makes everyone around it sick.

I took two definitions of 'bitterness' from Dictionary.com....

characterized by intense antagonism or hostility: bitter hatred

resentful or cynical: bitter words

 

No one I knows has a life goal of growing bitter. Yet, it slithers in, ever so craftily, eating up all the joy and leaving a hollow shell. Don't let this happen to you! Or, if it already has, then praise God, He can redeem the wasted time and restore the joy in Him.

 

These things come to mind to begin battling bitterness:

1. Instead of dwelling on offenses and hurts, dwell on the good things in life, with a thankful heart. There are plenty: great weather, rain that waters everything and keeps our thirst quenched, flowers with beautiful color and fragrances, perfect for decorations, hair garland, admiring, God and all of His saving grace, His Word of truth, longsuffering and compassion, etc. He has given us a bucketful of things to be thankful for, compared to the thimble-full of hurts and offenses. When we think what God has given is the thimble-full and the overflowing bucket is of the offenses, then this is a sure sign that our thoughts are topsy-turvy. (I've been here often.)
   
2. Meditate on and marinate in God's Word.  "I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways" (Psalm 119:15).
3. Daily forgive. That way, there's less and less o be bitter about each day.
4. Pray, for you, for the offender.
   
5. Practice 1, 2, 3, & 4 again and again till you are one happy, joyful, thankful bloggerina!                    

Anyhoo, those are my morning's musings. If you have bitterness, then you have been hurt and are carrying it around and obsessing over the injustice of it all, how you don't deserve it, etc. It happens. But it doesn't have to rule your life and attitudes. Here are some verses that will be like an ointment in the wound (but don't stop with these few; open God's Word and you'll find tons more): Psalm 119:71, 107, 153; Habukkuk 3:17-19.
 

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:2).
The joy of the Lord is our strength!