BitterSweetLife

More often than not I find myself writing from a sense of pathos. How could I do otherwise? Life is imperfectly pleasing. It’s treacherously beautiful.

Sometimes I render “life” as a woman who lets me down. What I am still figuring out is whether she is fundamentally bad, but outwardly appealing, or essentially kind and good, but physically plain.

Life slights me, but she’s so lovely I’m suckered into loving her again. Or life is steady and amiable, but I keep wondering if she’s all there is. Probably it doesn’t matter which. Ultimately, to love life is to embrace a bittersweet lover.

Querying whether life is fundamentally good, but imperfectly so, or essentially ruined, with flashes of beauty, is to miss the point. Life is like Christ said it would be: Bittersweet but being redeemed (John 16:33, The Bible). Jesus’ description of present-reality fits the facts exactly. Bittersweetness, though, is not enough. Life ought to be perfect and we all know it.

In our mind’s eye, “life” is not sick, flawed or defective. Allegorically, I need a woman who is captivating in essence. The love I want is uninterruptedly sweet—and no disclaimers. I’m not going to hedge and tell you less.By saying “Life is bittersweet,” I’m acknowledging that I haven’t laid hold of real life yet, but I will. (Philippians 3:11-14, The Bible.) You can count on that.