Bittersweet

“Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” The doctrine of the cross is a bittersweet legacy of Christ to his followers—bitter in the loss, sweet in the finding. It is the paradox of death being life, crucifixion being salvation. When we descend to the bottom of our brokenness, our helplessness, then we can rise to new wholeness.
To start life anew we must sometimes break with our past. Perhaps we need to give up old illusions or old habits. Letting go and surrendering is so foreign that we can easily grab back those things of which we’ve let go. They must be thrown away again and again. But in the discarding we have possibility for new insights, new realities. Miracles happen, life is restored, God’s love is released.  We have risen.  It is true!

O God, Divine Gardener, help me weed out my root problems. Through my bitter dying to self I offer myself to You as a sweet fragrance.