Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble? Job 2:10
In my morning devotional, I read that bittersweet is the idea that in all things there is both something broken and something beautiful. This spoke to me because, if I am being completely honest, I deem my life as a whole, bittersweet. Ever since my Dad’s passing, in all that I do, all that I accomplish and all that I walk through there is always that looming thought in the back of my head that finds me and says, “I wish my Dad could be here for this.” Learning to trust God’s goodness in the midst of our loss has shaken my family and I to our cores. Nevertheless we say thank you. We say thank you because we have come to realize that this bitter aspect of our lives has made us stronger. It has given us the courage to press onward and it has helped us to appreciate the truly sweet parts of our lives. As said by Shauna Niequist, author of Savor, “Rejoicing is no less rich when it contains a splinter of sadness.” We miss our Dad with every passing minute but trust he is in Heaven. We live our lives here on Earth just as he would want us to. We rejoice without him when there is rejoicing to be had knowing that our news is sweet with a side of bitter as he is not physically present to celebrate with us. Because of what we walked through with my Dad, we are able to appreciate and cherish the good times. In fact, it makes them richer and fills them with depth that I didn’t even know existed. We know that our Dad is watching from above and that to us, is very very sweet! To those of you that would like a challenge, the devotional I am reading encourages it’s readers to thank God, both through the bitter and through the sweet. This can be a tricky discipline but I truly believe that bad times make the good times better!
The sweater above (among a few other fun pieces that I have featured on my Instagram) was sent to me from @EllaMoss! It is without a doubt my favorite sweater (so soft!) and I am incredibly grateful for the generous gifts. I have linked it below for those of you that are interested; it also comes in black! Happy Monday everyone!
Xoxo, Anna
