Me and Violet Beauregarde

I do not like blueberries. Blueberries are bitter.

About the only time I can handle them is in a giant buttery scone, crammed with grainy sugar from Starbucks, but that's about it. Because only THAT amount of sugary junk can cover the bitterness of the blueberries. "Good for you", "super fruit", I don't care - I do not like blueberries. But if you are what you eat, the fruit of MY heart might put me and Violet Beauregarde in competition for a human bowling contest. Yeah, sometimes I can let myself get pretty bitter.

Enter in Mariah. Mariah is a wonderful friend I met in college and still consider quite dear to me. I rarely see her in person, and think I've seen her twice since college. But I enjoy reading her blog and hearing about her life as a woman, wife, and mother of two cute little ones. Mariah said something recently in her blog about bitterness that really hit me. She said:

"We read that Christ drank the bitter cup with the Atonement. But I have realized that he did this and didn't become bitter. Our challenge (mine) is to drink the bitter cup (trials, drama, heartbreak, hurt, life basically) and not become bitter but to learn to have better empathy for someone who is going through the same thing. To be more Christ like."

This really hit me. So much so that I don't even want to add anything to it. God just spoke to me through this. We all drink the bitter cup at times - but do we let it make us bitter? Or do we let it make us a better person? I know this - bitter can hurt, but I do not want to be a giant, bitter, blueberry.... So long, Violet Beauregarde. Welcome back, Jessica.