Interfaith Celebration Gathering

 

 

Bitter or Better?

 

Ever wonder what you would do in a crisis, how you would function? Whether you would fall apart or stand up to the stress?

 

Many of us have been in crises that threatened our own lives or the life of a loved one. Some of us have yet to experience this type of severe crisis. Yet we all experience smaller life crises, sometimes on a daily basis.

 

How we handle these crises determines whether we grow or stagnate. One of the first emotions most of us generally feel when a crisis looms is fear, fear that we may not be able to cope with the problem that has arisen. Our fear generally passes fairly quickly when we ask God for help and God shows us the resources we have within us for coping with the crisis.

 

The next emotion we generally feel is anger, anger that something bad has happened to us. How could life do this to us? Many of us unfortunately hold onto that anger, but when we hold onto the anger we feel about the crisis, stuffing it inside us rather than dealing with it, we remain connected to the crisis for the rest of our lives.

 

But when we deal with our anger, process it and release it, we can move on with our lives. There are many ways of successfully dealing with anger, but the most important first step is asking God to help us deal with it. When we ask God for help, we are less likely to leak the anger all over the people around us.

 

How we deal with a crisis and the aftermath of a crisis determines whether we become bitter or better, whether we grow or stagnate. With God’s help we can grow through any crisis and become better rather than bitter.

May the God of love add a blessing to these humble words.

AMEN

© 2011 Rev. S. Suzanne Fisher