A juxtaposition is “the act of placing things side by side, especially for the purpose of comparison or contrast”

Sweet and Sour

This challenge reminded me of a frequent occurrence during a particular period of time when I was young.  Some afternoons, my dad liked to “take a ride” with the family in his pickup truck down one of the dirt roads.  Before we embarked on our adventure, we often stopped at Mrs. Watson’s store for snacks.  We could each pick one candy item and I remember how mom would always tell us we were silly if we picked anything other than chocolate.  She would say, “Eww, you picked that old sour stuff”. On the occasions where she got something too, she invariably picked chocolate.  When we got into the truck with our Sweet Tarts, Razzles, Lemon Heads, and Now and Laters, she teasingly declared their inferiority beside the long adored chocolate.

As I opened the bag of chewy sweet tarts and popped two, one yellow and one purple,  in my mouth I immediately grimaced as the sour registered on my tongue.  I began to parallel the sweetness and the sour to our lives and the way we sometimes pick the sour over the sweetness.  When life delivers the inevitable discomfort of a “sour” scenario, we have choices.  We can suck on that for a while, even though it makes us wince, until we ultimately find ourselves enjoying it, relishing in the bitterness.  Bitterness, hatred and unforgiveness are like a slow growing disease that saps all of our joy and strength.

We can also choose to lift our chin up, forgive quickly, learn whatever God would teach us from the situation and move on.  And as I read the other day from a devotional, “feelings should be indicators, not dictators”.  In the end, it’s your choice, but if you would rather be happy and bring joy to others, pick the sweet!