The Cup

Shall I not drink the  cup the Father has given to me?
John 18:11

God is a thousand times more meticulous with us 
than even an artist is with his canvas. Using many
brush strokes of sorrow, and circumstances of
various colors, He paints us into the highest and
best image He visualizes, if we will only receive
His bitter gifts of myrrh in the right spirit.

Yet when our cup of sorrows is taken away and the 
lessons in it are suppressed or go unheeded, we do 
more damage to our soul than could ever be repaired. 
No human heart can imagine the incomparable love 
God expresses in His gift of myrrh. However, this 
great gift that our soul should receive is allowed to 
pass by us because of our sleepy indifference, and 
ultimately nothing comes of it.

Then, in our barrenness we come and complain,
saying, "O Lord, I feel so dry, and there is so much 
darkness within me!" My advice to you, dear child,
is to open your heart to the pain and suffering, and 
it will accomplish more good than being full of 
emotion and sincerity. TAULER

Reader, there is something to be said of taking in what
God has given, to surrender to God rather than taking
on the enemy. Nothing can touch us that does not
come through His hand. This approach is hard to
grasp especially in this modern world where we are
told everything can be fixed--if we just try harder!