When Life Hands You Lemons...
“One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works.”
We’ve all heard the saying “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” In other words, when life sucks, make the best of it. The problem is, in real life, it never really seems like we get one or two lemons at a time. When we face adversity, it feels as though we are standing under a lemon tree in a wind storm, being pelted my lemons and rain, and getting blown around in the gusts of wind that never seem to stop. No one really wants to make lemonade after the storm.
But one thing I've learned through bouts of receiving excess amounts of lemons is that the lemonade is rarely about or for me. Whatever trials we face, we have a responsibility to put in the work in order to turn those lemons into lemonade for both ourselves and others. The process isn’t enjoyable, and it certainly isn’t easy, but it is necessary for both own growth and for encouraging others.
“Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.”
After our hardships have settled, the first step in making lemonade is squeezing our lemons. This is the messy part, and the part that takes a lot of strength (we're making authentic, hand-squeezed lemonade, not taking the “easy route” and using an electric juicer) and endurance. We have to cut the lemon open and remove everything we can while trying to catch the seeds from falling into the juice. Likewise, in the trials we face, we often find ourselves trying to dissect what went wrong, squeezing out details of how we got to this place, and using all of our strength to extract as much as we can. Meanwhile, we find ourselves trying to stand strong without dropping the ball (or seeds, in this case). However, we often find that we will do, say, and think some not-so-great things under the pressure of our distress, and thus some seeds will inevitably fall through. We will disappoint ourselves by acting out of character or doubting God's character. We are, after all, only human. But here’s the thing: seeds in lemonade indicate authenticity and our credibility - it's what separates the hand-squeezed homemade from the generic machine-made lemonade. Others will be able to easily tell if our lemonade is genuine.
Once the lemons have been squeezed, we then doctor up the juice with sugar and water. The water allows us to digest what we have just endured - we can begin to see the purposes of our hardships, and how we have developed new strengths and perspectives. The sugar, of course, creates an entirely new taste - palatable and refreshing. The sugar is the silver lining - the good that came out of the trials and the ways we can see God working everything out in our favor.
But the lemonade isn't just for us. It's for us to share - just like our testimonies. Someone else has just been handed an entire truck full of lemons, and now it's our turn to pour a glass of lemonade for him/her and talk about the process. About how hard it is to understand why the lemons showed up in the first place. And how tiresome squeezing lemons really is. About how it hurts like no other if you have a cut on your squeezing hand. About letting seeds get into the juice, and becoming frustrated and wanting to give up. But then, we can share how the burden seems to lighten, how we can begin to add some water to mellow out the acidity. We can talk about how much water and sugar to add. And then, we can discuss that in the end, after the sugar has dissolved, we can now see, taste, and understand what the purpose of the lemons was.
So, if you are facing any adversity, remember that there is lemonade to be made. You didn’t ask for lemons, so right now, lemonade sounds silly. Making lemonade is a process, so take your time going through each step. Everything tastes better when it’s made intentionally and with patience. You’ll have to press and endure. You’ll have to make adjustments and test it as you go. But there will be lemonade, and there will be enough to share. Pour a glass for someone else, it could be the thing that changes that person’s life.