The Flu and the Bitter Cup

A couple of months ago, my daughter Gracie got sick with the flu. This was the first time in her 4 short years of life that she'd been this sick. Her fever wouldn't break, she refused to eat or drink anything, she just wanted to sleep all day and we were sure she was slowly becoming severely dehydrated so my husband and I decided to take her to the doctor.

After the doctor confirmed that it was the flu, they prescribed her with medicine to help cut her sickness short. I don't know if you've ever tasted flu medicine before but it was extremely bitter . . . and to try to give that to a 4-year-old would prove to be extremely difficult.

When we got home, my husband and I decided to mix the medicine in with some food like ice cream to try and mask the bitter taste. But once that medicine hit Gracie's mouth, she was NOT having it.

We tried everything to get her to take the medicine that day but our daughter continued to refuse it. It was getting late and we knew we had to get this medicine into her system before she went to bed. So my husband decided to just pour the medicine straight into a little cup and thought to just talk to her about the importance of taking it.

He took the cup of medicine to her room and when our daughter saw it, she immediately started crying.

"I don't want to take it daddy! It's yucky." Gracie complained. "But sweetheart, you have to take it. It will heal you!" my husband lovingly replied.

"No! I don't want to take it. Please don't make me take it." Gracie cried even more.

and with all the love and patience that this father had for his daughter, he asked, "Please take it. It will heal you."

Then, with tears streaming down my daughter's face, she said "okay daddy" and took the bitter cup and finished it.

As I observed this tender exchange between a father and his child, the eyes of my understanding were opened and my mind was taken back to what might’ve been a similar exchange between a Heavenly Father and his Only begotten child during the late night hours within the Garden of Gethsemane.

I was reminded that the Savior of the world pleaded twice, like Gracie, for the bitter cup to be taken away from Him saying

“Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”

And I imagined our loving Father in Heaven responding “Please take it. It will heal everyone. . . Please take it. It will heal everyone.”

And with tears streaming down His face, Jesus took the bitter cup and finished it so that we can be healed.

I'm so grateful that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, did not shrink at the task of partaking the bitterest of cups so that we can have a chance at this life! I'm also very grateful that God gives me opportunities to learn more about Him through the small and simple moments of life.

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