My son dragged me into it. I didn’t want to cross my eyes. It hurt. I kept trying, hoping to please him. Yet, I failed. Only he could turn two images into one 3-D image by crossing his eyes.
Once he conquered that technique, he moved on to a video. There, a girl named Mara rapidly flashed up complex onscreen images and, in each one, my son found a super-small thing wrong with them.
“There,” he said, eyes crossed in order to spot the error visually. He pointed out a small, centimeter-sized error in the mix of hundreds of M&M candies.
The next image flashed up.
“I see what’s wrong here!” He’d notice the rice-sized error amidst 99.9% of the page, which was completely fine.
The host, “Mara,” ran through picture after picture, pointing out error after error.
And, as she did, something struck me:
“Mara” in Hebrew means “Bitter’:
“She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.” (Ruth 1:20)
Ahh…I was seeing something. “Maras” can’t help but find errors. Things people should have done. What isn’t right in a church. What a husband should be doing. What is wrong with a person.
Why? Because bitter people don’t see the better portion, they see through a bitter perspective.
Maras find minuscule problems in an image that is 99.9% a-okay.
Friends, I’ve been a Mara, at times. Upset at people who didn’t understand me. Bitter at those who didn’t do what was right. “Mara” at what should have been. Negative.
Indeed, in the book of Ruth, Naomi became bitter after her grief and loss, but my question today is — where might you be bitter? Where have you become critical and nitpicky? Even in the name of religion. Is this the sort of person you long to be?
As I watched this, online “Mara” nit-pick errors, I realized, this is not where I want to be…
Ick. I am over it.
Bitter Maras constantly pick out errors (faults, criticism, things wrong, pessimistic ways), even in pictures that are 99.9% all right.
God’s way is not annoyance, it is faith, hope, and love founded in a mind that thinks about what is true, noble and right.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Phil. 4:8 NIV)
So, today, I’m ditching any bitter way of seeing for a better way of thinking. God’s best.
Life’s too short for bitter, when it is love that never fails. Bitterness only works to make me sour, love makes me to never fail, when all my days are said and done.
What about you? What might you need to leave behind today?
Prayer: Father, thank you that today I am ditching “bitter’ for your “better”. Forgive me for holding things against people, when you have held nothing against me, thanks to Jesus. Forgive me for thinking I am entitled to more. I’ve operated in pride. I’ve demanded things. You sent Your Son, as lowly and, through Him gave me everything. I am so thankful. I am so grateful. Help me to see what I do have, in You, through You, and to give honor back to You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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