Today’s Scripture Reading (February 27, 2018): Ephesians 1
In her novel, “The History of Love,” Nicole
Krauss writes, “I want to say somewhere: I've tried to be forgiving.
And yet. There were times in my life, whole years,
when anger got the better of me. Ugliness turned me inside out. There was a
certain satisfaction in bitterness. I courted it. It was standing outside, and
I invited it in.” Maybe we can all identify with the emotion. Bitterness often
seems to feed something that is inside of us. It makes us feel good, justified,
and even in control as it eats away at us from the inside. And so we stalk it,
inviting it to come in and destroy both our relationships and our lives.
I have seen the scenario play itself out in many situations. The
root of the problem seems to be me, or us. We are people, fallible, prone to
let others down and to fail. We expect it and begin to look for those moments
when the other that stands beside us will live up to our expectations and fail
us. We convince ourselves that it is better to go alone than to be part of a community – after all, if I mess up at least I
know who to blame. And the bitterness continues to eat away like an acid inside of us, and every other person who we have
not dared to send away is damaged by the bitterness we have welcomed into our
lives. In this, we are destroyed.
In reading Paul’s letters, to be honest, he doesn’t seem to be
all that much of a people guy, even though people seem to be a big part of his
job. He was a smart guy, but smart people often seem to lack people skills (if
you are a fan of “The Big Bang Theory” just consider Sheldon and Leonard’s
mom). I think Paul understood that all too well, and so he was on his guard
when it came to the people in his life. And one of Paul’s tricks was to thank
people and to pray for them. Somehow, when we begin to consider all of the reasons
why we should be thankful for the people in our lives, and we begin to pray for them, all of the bitterness that threatens
our relationships seem to fade away. No matter who it is in your life, you can
usually find several things that you need to thank them for, and praying for
them begins to shift our point of view to that of God. No matter how badly we
might have been wronged, when we start to
see people as the children of God, adored by him, somehow our perspective
begins to change.
It is something that I try to be faithful to do. I just want to
make sure that I say thank you to those around me, and always to include them in my prayers. Right now my prayers are
filled with people who I am in contact with on a weekly basis, and some who are
a little farther away. And as I pray that God will bless them, the bitterness
that maybe should be there just fades into the background. It is the best
defense for bitterness that I can think
of, and I wonder, who is it for whom you need to be praying.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2
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