Roots of Bitterness

‘We cannot keep birds from flying over our heads, but we can keep them from nesting there.’

An ordinary morning, destination: work. I must say that, to get to work, I need to take three different buses. And that was precisely where I was when a bus arrived and the driver got out. I tried to be as courteous as possible when I said to him, ‘Good morning. Excuse me, are you going to Capri?’

And that was when, without my expecting it, he hurled these words in my face, almost with a roar and a hateful glare: ‘Yes, why?’

I froze. ‘No reason.’ That was the only reply that left my lips.

I stepped aside and, I must confess, for the first time I felt sorry for someone who was mistreating me. At that moment, the only question that crossed my mind was what reasons that man might have for being so displeased with life that he treated in such a way someone who had practically caressed him with her words. How much frustration might there be in that life, how much bitterness and pain—rejection, perhaps? Problems in his family, in his marriage, in his relationship with his children, with his coworkers—in short, even his childhood may have been a disaster. What could there be in his life that caused such behavior?

Of course, I knew nothing about any of that, but what I did know—what I was more than certain of—was what he did not have in his heart. God was not there. Whatever was there did not allow the Spirit of God to enter, cleanse it, and throw out all the accumulated garbage.

I prayed and asked our God to take charge of cleansing that heart which roared on the outside but which, perhaps, was raining tears on the inside.

Such people should not surprise us. There are many masks out on the streets. It is up to you to pray that those masks will be exchanged for faces smoothed by the Word of God.

Can’t you change a life? Place it in the hands of the One who can; nothing is impossible for Him. Pray and trust.