Have you ever been bugged by something? Have you ever been bugged by something and just tolerated it? How many times have found yourself angry, sad, etc, only to discover that the source of the feeling is that something was bugging you? There is a way to get what’s bugging you out of your life.
Typically, whatever it is that is bugging you is one of four things: bitterness, unforgiveness, grudges or selfishness. Or it could be a combination or all four. Let’s test it out. Take a moment and think about one or two things that are bugging you. Have you identified at least one?
Okay, the main culprit for most things that bug us is “Bitterness”. Let me share a quote from Harry Emerson Fosdick (an American clergyman).
“Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. Bitterness paralyzes life; love empowers it. Bitterness sours life; love sweetens it. Bitterness sickens life; love heals it. Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes.”
Bitterness is the most sensitive of the tastes, and is perceived by many to be unpleasant, sharp, or disagreeable. The reason bitterness is so devastating is that it provides the justification for being mean, cold, short-tempered or unpleasant to others. Bitterness nurtures itself through its self-appointed privilege.
Most people know that it is wrong to hate others. Our conscience tells us that it is wrong to do evil to others. If people are going to persist in their meanness toward someone, they need some way to override the guilt function of their conscience. Otherwise the guilt would pile on so thick that they would have to stop being mean or cold. They would feel bad or guilty about it.
Bitterness provides the needed short circuit that allows them to bypass the work of their conscience not only to do evil to others but even to feel smug and self-righteous about it. How does bitterness do this? Bitterness fools the person by tricking his conscience. The person only needs to dwell upon the way someone offended him, and he becomes free from the protection of his conscience.
A biological parallel might be the effect of drugs or alcohol on a person’s body. The nerve connections become dulled so that he is able, in his drunken stupor, to do things that he would never otherwise do. I call alcohol “LIQUID COURAGE” but “BITTERNESS IS A SOUL DRUG”. It allows people to do evil things that they would not otherwise think themselves capable of doing.
Do you know someone that is so bitter, I mean really bitter?
Bitterness is the nemesis of hope. Bitterness sucks away joy, keeps us ever stuck in the past, robs us of the ability to rejoice about life and all its possibilities. In order to blossom, bitterness focuses instead on the whole host of ways people we’ve counted on have let us down. Those hurts cause lesions that can easily fester into a bitter spirit, leaving us with scars of emotional pain that we can cart around for years. Unless we understand and resolve the bitterness, we will not be able to face similar situations in the future.
We will block the pain, causing us to emotionally lock-up and then more emotional pain is buried in our hearts, leaving us void of inner peace. When unresolved within a person’s spirit, bitterness creates resentment, anger, and emotional damage. The natural consequence of harboring an attitude of bitterness is that it eventually has command over you.
Bitterness is like a “root”; the longer it is allowed to grow, the more arduous it is to get rid of. This root will produce the fruit of anger, ungratefulness, a critical attitude, insensitivity to others, revenge, mistrust and/or depression.
One would think that a person would spit out the poisonous venom of bitterness from their life. I was once bitter after my last employer laid me off (bitter like a lemon). So bitter that I wrote a book. But I also found out that resolving bitterness involves forgiveness.
Photo Credit
las @ flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.
“Tower of Limes” Darwin Bell @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.
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Good piece..
And just to add my 2 cents, I think bitterness exists because so many have made it the default. Today’s society makes you “work” at being happy, and makes it a “chore” to change.
It’s just easier to be bitter. At least you’ll fit in with the herd and not call any attention to yourself.
So true! Bitterness is vile and leads to us not truly fulfilling our dreams