Sweet and Sour

I shared this devotional for our Ladies Progressive Supper. We had a Hawaiian party~a Lou-owl. I can never remember how to spell that word. We served sweet and sour meatballs and pineapple casserole with salty crackers on the top for our main dish.

Matt. 26:36-46~Story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane~

Jesus left us an example~that we should follow in His steps.

~He was clear about His needs. "I am so sad, I could die."
 He could not lie nor did He expand His reality.

~He needed His closest friends and He needed His Father.

Sometimes we go to our friends and not to the Father
 and sometimes we just go to the Father.

  But Jesus wanted and needed both.

He had given His all to these closest friends and now He needed them to give back to Him.

Sometimes, our friends will fail us~we should go to the Father.
Sometimes, we'll fail our friends~we should go to the Father.
Sometimes, no one will fail~we should go to the Father.

When they failed Him, He continued to go to the Father. 
He expressed his disappointment with them clearly,
with words,
 and when they continued to fail, 
He continued to go to the Father.

He did not write them off. 
He did not berate God for giving him sleeping rocks for disciples. 
 
He went to The Rock and reached out in friendship and authority to His friends after His resurrection and we are here today
 because He built His church on those sleeping rocks who failed Him. 

And through their weakness, the power of God was revealed through the Holy Spirit's work in their lives and God received the glory.

He asked for a way of escape from the bitter cup.
  He resisted drinking that cup~strongly. 
He was close to His Father while He resisted His will.
  He was looking at God's face while He resisted Him.

He surrendered to the Father's will. 
After much struggle, He accepted it.

In life, we hold two cups.
In one hand, we hold a cup of sweetness and good things.
In the other, we hold a cup of bitterness.
There are different intensities to these cups of joy and sorrow.
We need to drink both cups.
Cups do not pass unless we drink them.

Jesus, for the joy that was set before Him~(YOU were that joy)~endured the cross, despised its shame, and is set down at the right hand of His Father.

These two cups make up who we are.

Because our soul is expanded with sorrow and sacrifice,
 it is then also expanded to hold more joy and more grace.
Like a stretched out balloon can hold more air the second time you blow into it.

Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief~
and He was anointed with joy above His brothers.

No one has ever had more sorrow than Jesus.
No one has ever had more joy.

Let us taste fully in life the sweet and the sour;
the sweetness of life and the saltiness of tears.
Just like the sweet and sour meatballs and the sweet and salty pineapple,
the flavor it gives our lives is balanced and full.

Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.