bitter gourd.
there's an asian veggie i just can't stand. its called bitter gourd, and it lives up to its name. it definitely is bitter. the worst part about this veggie is that no matter how much you try to cover up the bitterness, it still exists. rolling the melon in salt though, seems to help a bit. and man, getting rid of even just some of the bitterness better is than nothing. i'm sure if you rolled it in salt long enough, the bitterness would disappear, since the salt would completely permeate the gourd. seems to me, however, that the best solution is to not eat the gourd. i mean, if you're going to eat something completely salty, why not just skip straight to the salt and forget about the bitter gourd?
speaking of bitterness, lately i have found that i have allowed bitterness to take root in my life. i've eaten the gourd and now my life is permeated with this a bitter taste . so here's a question for you: other than seeping myself in the lovely, salty Word and praying that God would free me from this bitterness, what are practical things i can do to not allow bitterness to cover more ground in my life? covering it up and trying to mask it with a happy smile definitely isn't working, and the bitterness leaves a caustic taste in my mouth. is there anything y'all do, practically speaking, to fight against bitterness?
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ~Ephesians 4:31 (ESV)
addendum (Oct 16th):
haha, i am delighted by how God answers our prayers when we are confused and seeking guidance! get this. the day after i ask the question, is there a way to fight against bitterness, one of my favourite female Christian bloggers/authors writes a blog on bitterness, and points to a revive our hearts program which deals with the roots of bitterness.
thats pretty great timing, if you ask me.
15 commentaires:
ooh. tough question. my proactive ant-bitterness pill is to forgive often. and when i find that i am getting bitter, i begin to pray for the person - not related to my beef with them, but for whatever their needs are. looking for ways to serve them is also hard. but it is even harder to stay bitter with someone when you pray for them often.
ummm... pls. tell me what u end up learning or what other ppl tell u about this topic. it seems we're both in this whole bitterness thing as well.
Hmmm... would this solofeminity blog be applicable to men?
hey girl!
not a coincidence, that blog :).
good hanging out with you yesterday. what would i do without my translator.
Lydia
this is totally not applicable to the blog. But I found yours cause you told me you read mine. So here I am. I had a question actually...
You mentioned some blogger guy on the way back to TO who goes and blogs for the desiringgod conferences and stuff. You said he was excellent. Where is his blog? What is his name?
If you could help, that would be great.
pri: trying to pull ahead in the line of cars that circle the globe.
big problem= godzilla ain't got nothing on me.
haha.
ben: www.challies.com. glad you're here.
beth: how is vancouver!
loco: i'm glad i have a friend in my boat. learned some cool stuff today. will call you sometime and tell you. after exams.
sending you a little love from kingston! I had my first non-project DG today. I heart them so much. I'm so grateful for all those special things you taught me this summer. I miss you!
awww, wynja ninja you are the coolest girl at queens and i DEFINITELY heart you!!
awww... now I feel ignored :P
jonathan: no offense, bro, but i chose not to reply to your comment, because it seems to me that if you really wanted to know if solofemininity is applicable to men, you'd just go there and read it for yourself.
I find the more I focus on serving, the less bitter I am. i think bitterness means you're not getting what you deserve. ok "Andrew the sinner whose life has been immensly blessed, tell me, what do you deserve."
i dunno if that comes up short in dealing with the reality of the feelign
what kind of bitterness are you talking about? specific or pervasive. if specific then begin by focusing your attention on those realationships, if pervasive then your focus should be more wholistically upon your own life. in either case ask yourself "what is it that truly upsets me?" and then reduce your answer to its most rudimentary form. at that point i should hope you would know what to do. a root casue should lead to a root solution. as for me, lots of quiet alone time with God and my thoughts helps. but that's just my personal remedy. oh, and naps are good. who doesn't enjoy a nap!?
Or perhaps, andrew, you mean your not getting what you think you deserve. Because I definately know that I get bitter when that happens.
Naps make me more tired in the end -_-
Ah, good point Lydia... I just didn't want to go there and get sucked into to it like I do with almost everything on the internet -_-
Hmmm.... this is great.... even though she's really talking to women.
hey lyds! i went to solofemininity...... great thoughts... well written! i think i will check her blog more often. :) thanks for the recommendation!
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