Life is bitter sweet - Part 3

I know I said in the last blog that I would leave the lament topic alone and talk to enjoying the sweet of life but something came up that I thought I must share before diving into enjoying the sweetness of life. There is this challenging passage by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, He is instructing them on how to live with one another as followers of Jesus in their world. He then says this in chapter 4:31 - ‘Get rid of all bitterness. . . ‘ This is a tough instruction but I think it is one we should highlight because in the space of relationships in our lives bitterness can easily creep in. An important consideration is how can we chew on and process this bitterness so that it isn’t what our relationships are marked by. I think a way is to take this situations to God in poetic, exaggerated lament.

If you have spent any time in the psalms of lament. You’ll find that there is a lot of exaggeration and poetic imagery. This can feel and seem like people aren’t being honest they are going over the top I mean, statements like: ‘I am like a worm.’ Or ‘I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.’ And I could keep on going. It would seem that there is an element of embellishment in prayers of lament that I have heard people call jarring because they feel like we should be honest and real with God.

I am big believer that we need to bring our most honest selves to God but I also hold in tension that exaggeration helps make a point that we can’t make clearly without a little extra on the top. This is the same as when we gather with friends and say phrases like ‘nah, I am dead.’ When something is funny. Or we say ‘I am dying of hunger.’ When we are just really hungry and not dying at all. This exaggeration helps us to make a point. This is why when we chew on the bitter of life through lament we must not fear going there in this fashion. It will help us truly reveal our hearts and souls to God in a way that will long term bring about the processing we are looking for.

The journey of chewing of life’s bitterness is such a unique process to all of us that we cannot expect it to look the same for all of us. This is why the beautiful poetic images and exaggerations is something I wanted to bring to your attention. This is a safe zone. Please participate in that way and I believe you will find rest, solace and hope in the God on the other side of these laments like our ancient friends did.  You will also find, in my experience, the opportunity to be over the top with God leads to a more sober conversation with those who we need to reconcile and ensure that we do not carry bitterness.

As I perceive the lives of so many friends and co journeyers in this life, I see many who struggle to get rid of bitterness and would rather block someone or avoid them instead of engaging God first and then them to be able to get rid of bitterness in those relationships. I think this is an important work of lament within community because it can lead us to thrive in life and faith. So as you walk through the bittersweet of life you will find a lot of the bitter can be caused by those we are in relationship with, I encourage you to lament well and then talk well to others because as we will discuss people are also an incredible source of sweet in life journey.