As I have gotten older, I have gotten better at this one. Don’t get me wrong. I still have a long way to go. Probably something that I will be working on for the rest of my life. And I know many of us have a very difficult time with this. But, we have to work on getting bitterness out of our hearts. We have to work on getting it out of our hearts as soon as we begin to feel it. If we catch it early, it’s easier for us to move past it. If we let it sit, it will begin to fester. And then we will have a bigger mess just like a wound that has festered for a while.
Now…we might question why this is important. Why should we remove bitterness as much as we can? After all, we’re seeing people hold onto anger and hatred towards each other like never before. Even among some of our elected officials. We are seeing backbiting. We are seeing sabotaging. Deliberately trying to discredit each other. It’s a real ugliness. Not everyone is doing this. But we’re seeing enough, especially in the media, that it looks like it’s the majority. It may or may not be. That is not the point though. The point is, we need to do what we can to get out of our hearts. We need to move beyond it. But why?
We are called to serve others. We are called to love one another. We are called to look past the faults of others. We don’t have to like what they’re doing. We don’t have to agree with it either. And nothing says that we must say it is ok. But holding on to the bitterness, can overtake the joy in our hearts. Holding onto it doesn’t make the situation better. Actually, maybe just the exact opposite. Seeking revenge doesn’t solve anything. If we let it go, it releases us. We can move past it. If we can let it go, we can focus on much glorious things. Much more beautiful things. And that is such a Release! More than I can explain. So today, let’s work on releasing the bitterness. Let’s focus on Jesus. Let’s focus on joy. Let’s focus on love and serving others.
