It sounds cute on a mug, in a card or when you say it to someone else.
But when life really isn’t going well, it can be downright trite and annoying.
Last week I actually blustered to my husband, “I’m SICK of making lemonade!”
So many things had continuously gone wrong, I was beginning to feel that nothing was ever going to go right again.
When we had to be displaced out of our home for a week, we begged our insurance company to let us stay in a hotel with a pool. They agreed. After a few days of frantic packing and getting house ready for construction crew to come put in new hardwood floors in two rooms, we arrived at the hotel to find the pool…
…empty.
They were adapting it to meet code. Because we were told it would only be a few days, we didn’t find another hotel room. For the next five days we were told it would be open –
“tomorrow morning,” then
“maybe by noon,” then
“we’re shooting for tonight.”
It finally opened Tuesday at noon. We had to check out Tuesday at noon. They let us stay a few extra hours. It was like getting only one jelly bean in your Easter basket.
Car starter issues, missed phone calls, mis-communications, missed deadlines and memory lapses added pressure to the week. I just began to expect if I needed something I wouldn’t find it, if I needed it to work, it wouldn’t and that if it could go wrong, it would.
I felt like I was trying to juggle eggs while six playground bullies hurled me around on the merry-go-round.
Right after I whined to my husband, my heart rebuked me.
Everything in a Christian’s life is caused or allowed by the Lord. He is the vinedresser. If He chooses to give me a harvest of lemons, then I need to make lemonade, instead of just having a sour attitude.
The Lord reminded me how to make lemonade with the lemons in my life.
You add water and sugar.
Water in the Scriptures speaks of the Word of God, as a saving and cleansing fountain in our lives.
He wants to lovingly use His Holy Word to cleanse my heart from sin and make me more like the One whose Hands bear the marks of His dying love for me.
He wants us to draw near, the way you love to pull your children into your arms.
One you’ve squeezed those lemons and added the water, it is only lacking the sugar, the sweetness that miraculously compliments the tang of the lemon and produces a flavor that is pleasing and thirst-quenching.
What is sweet in the Scriptures? The essence of Jesus Christ in a believer. Born-again Christians give off an odor to the world around them.
Wow, I like this one. Thank you. What a great visual/allegorical story. And it actually makes sense! (Sometimes when I try to use analogies, part of it works with the sotyr, and the other part dones't quite follow… This one does. :))Thanks for sharing. <3
I too am guilty of saying the same thing about being sick of lemonade… Your post was such a great reminder to me right now!!
Thanks for these good thoughts and reminders, Mindy. I am sorry that you've been having a bad trot but glad to hear that in the end you can see that God means it for good!y
Well said. I will think of this often.
I wish I could remember all of your wise words! Thanks.
Wow, that is a way I've never looked at it before. Although I have never had a week as stressful as you, I am going to try and put this in practice for my little lemons that come into my day.
What a great illustration. Thank you so much for giving me something tangible to hold on to through those more challenging days and seasons.~Erin
So good, so good, so good… I'm going to think about that all day!