Just a hint

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Eph. 4:31

I was laying in bed last night, contemplating the danger and poison of bitterness...any bitterness, just a hint can ruin every semblence of peace and joy that you have. It is like taking a shower and still having dirt under your fingernails...you are mostly clean but not quite and that not quite corupts the mostly. Then it spreads...everything you touch becomes not quite clean. That is the way bitterness works in hearts. We are mostly joyful, mostly peaceful but then on the wrong day, the wrong words come out about the wrong thing and there it is, for everyone to see....bitterness. Sometimes we can cover it in sarcasm or laugh it off or even apologize out right for its existence. But undealt with, It just leads to dirtier and uglier growing bitterness that begins to cloud and color areas in your heart that never knew the life stealing sting of embedded anger that has begun to cling to the walls of your soul trying to blend in with the surroundings. And that's the thing, bitterness starts out as something that can blend in. It is sneaky, a joke here, a comment there, a sly look of judgement only shared with our inner selves and somehow our heart's gatekeeper becomes less discerning of who and what he lets into the home for of our souls. The roots of bitterness begin to move throughout our foundation and crack all that we found to be pure and lovely.

We have a rescuer...we must fight with Him and ask him to cut down the mess that has taken us captive and caged our heart away from joy and peace. Allow right anger to burn against the sin that so easily entangled us away from Him.