The Sweetness of Bitterness

I read a quote the other week that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.

“Sometimes we need the bitter to taste the sweet.” Ruth Soukup. (Living Well Spending Less)

That quote brought back all kinds of memories and framed those memories, so I understood them.

One particular memory, was a long time ago, when I was first married and just out of college. I was working at a psych hospital. It was better than the group home, but I wanted more involvement with the patients. I heard about a job at the local school district. It was a counseling job, working with elementary students. It paid more an hour and I got to work directly with kids. I decided to go for the job. I got an interview. The interview went well, I thought. But I didn’t hear from the people. I kept calling them, trying to get a hold of the psychologists who interviewed me, but no one would call me back. I kept praying about it, asking God for the job. Finally, I got a call. One of the psychologists called me at my home on a Sunday night.

The woman who called me was one of the psychologists who interviewed me. She was friendly and kind. She told me I had an excellent interview. There were three of them in the interview, and they all agreed, they liked me a lot. But…There was that dreaded word-but. She explained to me that I didn’t have a Master’s degree and therefore, they couldn’t give me the job. If I was just in a Master’s Degree program, they would quickly give me the job. I was crushed. I was devastated. I wanted that job so badly. When I got off the phone, I sobbed. I cried and cried bitter tears.

I went back to my job at the psych hospital, disappointed. But I had done everything I could, I just wasn’t qualified. I resigned myself to my current job.

Then, a week later I got another call. It was a Sunday night again. It was the same psychologist who called me the week before. She had a proposal for me. There was a tough school in the district, with tough kids to deal with. But if I was willing to get myself into a master’s degree program within a year, the job was mine!

I got the job! I was elated. It tasted so sweet. So much sweeter, since I had tasted the bitterness first. I thanked God. I accepted the job and loved every minute of it. I loved being able to practice my counseling skills. I loved working with the students. I loved the new school schedule. It was probably one of my most favorite jobs. A sweet, sweet job it was.

I’ve always wondered why I got denied the job at first. Why go through the bitterness of being rejected? But “sometimes we need the bitter to taste the sweet.” I tasted the bitterness and now the job was so much sweeter. Now it made sense.

Isn’t that true with everything in life? They say hunger makes the best seasoning. Your food tastes so much better, when you are hungry. I’ve heard athletes say they remember their losses. Because after the losses, the wins tastes so much sweeter. “…we need the bitter to taste the sweet.”

God knows that is true in our lives as well. You might be going through something right now. Something bitter. But just wait. For the believer, the sweetness will come. And how much sweeter will it be, since you’ve tasted the bitterness?

For us, who are believers, we endure the bitterness of life on this planet, because we have something sweet to look forward to, heaven. How much sweeter will it be since we’ve tasted the bitterness here on earth? We may be going though sickness, sadness, rejection, stress, loneliness, all kinds of bitterness. But the sweetness of heaven will taste so sweet.

So whatever you are going through, just remember, “Sometimes we need the bitter to taste the sweet.”