Linda C Barrett

Vinaigrette Linda C Barrett

VINAIGRETTE "Sorrow and Joy - an odd chemistry whose elements do not form solution like oil and vinegar - one soothing - one acerbic... Compelled to consume The bitter-sweet potion. I must choose. Die; or eat and live." (from the poem "Vinaigrette") We live in a bitter/sweet world. It's bitter because of sin and the Fall. It's sweet because the earth bears evidence of God's splendor, and he has restored hope and intimacy with himself through Christ. God's tender call is, "Come to me. The world is filled with tribulation, but I AM the balm for your sadness, the rest for your restlessness, and forgiveness for sin. In this life, aches may never vanish, but I am present, and I AM enough." The poems in this collection emerge from a lifetime of effort to fuse conflicting realities. During the struggle to make all things sweet, God's extravagant grace and love became a salve for suffering and a source of joy-even in unhealed pain. Let us, with brutal honesty, embrace this mysterious paradox, and with love-soothed scars begin to see who we really are-God's beloved children. Come. Read. Taste and see that the Lord is good.