Bitter to Sweet

It snowed last night.  For about a half hour the world seemed to drink with thirst the heavy snowflakes as they fell.  There is one thing that I adore about March.  If snow falls...it rarely lasts more than a few hours.  It seems that as it melts the earth has new flowers pushing from the sleepy earth.

The other night was bitter.  As the weather changed from warm to cold snow it seemed to fill, snag, and push at every nerve in my body.  I have damage throughout my back:  1.  Multiple car accidents (I'm a very safe driver but I have had the misfortune of riding with UNSAFE drivers)2.  Many falls apparently I sometimes make the mistake of NOT looking before I leap.  3.  Heredity, I can't BLAME my parents, they faced many of the same challenges.

The nerves in my hands were especially annoyed.  Unless you have felt the anger of nerve damage, unless you have done your best to simply "hang in there," (a phrase that I hate, but sometimes is the best I can do), unless you have watched helplessly as your hands, legs, and feet start to jerk and twist without your permission, unless you have witnessed a beloved child face these challenges, unless you have witnessed a dear spouse face these things, UNLESS, UNLESS, UNLESS you may not understand what this post is about.

There are far too many ways actions that lead to bitter.  There is the bitterness of children trapped into sexual slavery, and human bondage.  There is the bitter struggle of mental health challenge.  How well would you handle having relentless voices always close to provide you with hideous images of pain, death, and evil...and some nights nothing you do seem to hush them.  Facing the death of a loved one as the earth is stilled and dark.  Oh YES, there are far too many times, places, and ways, to have a bitter night.

I believe that almost every human that walks this earth will at some point have a bitter night.  This will be a night when light seems to be swallowed.  Bitter will feel as though it will chew you up and spit you out. 

Just as you feel to give up all hope, faith, or thought of redemption, the darkness will gather itself in a dark cloak.  Light will grow, stretch, then become brighter and brighter.  The birds will greet the newness of this day with songs of joy.  Somehow...some way, morning will again greet the sleeping earth.

A small child lies in her tired Mother's lap.  She is  being rocked, and  comforted with loving songs.  The child is fearful, restless, gasping to draw enough oxygen into her tiny body to breathe.  The struggle is momentous, especially since the only remedy is to obtain oxygen by taking her to the hospital when her breathing becomes dangerously impaired.  The hospital bills are high.  Finances are stretched.

Yet redemption is always a short time away.  As the darkness is pushed away by the light, a new day, a new chance, a NEW SWEET is formed that masters the bitter.  In this moment, this blessed moment, the pain shrinks, the air is more breatheable.  Hope is renewed for a joyous future.

How does the sweet redeem the bitter?  Should we try to ignore the bitter?  NO!  It is a strange idea but so true, that some how, some way, the darkness, bitterness, make the renewing of morning seem even sweeter.  Yes, there will be other bitter nights.  That is the reality of living.  On the other hand, there will be redemptive mornings when shadings of light, and the reflections of joy, will paint the sky in radiant pink, orange, and brilliant.  The birds will sing their triumphant welcome to the new day.