Have you heard the saying,"If life gives you lemons, make lemonade?" Have you ever tried making lemonade? That is a hard task. Squeezing all those lemons that make only a small amount of lemonade. It takes a lot of lemons to make a gallon of lemonade! Unless you are like me and purchase the big can of lemonade, to only add a few scoops to make a summertime treat ready for your family. Well, fresh lemonade is always better. For me, the hardest things I have had to do make for the best blessings. For me, when things are easy, there is no challenge, there is no learning there for me to grow. It is as if you stayed in the same history book all through school, would you really be growing in history, making history, or would you just be stuck in the same old same old? I am a hands on learner. When I wanted to learn how to crochet, I could not just learn by looking at a book, I called a friend, who came over and showed me stitch by stitch, and by learning that, I was able to teach myself more stitches. Some lessons in life I have had to repeat many times, to really learn the meaning, and those are some of the hardest lessons so far, but they have taken me the farthest on my walk with Christ. Life has thrown me some lemons, and I am sure I could make much lemonade to go around. When life throws those hard things at us, the first thing we want to do is curl up in the fetal position and pull the covers over our head. I have done that on many a days. But that is not what I need to keep repeating, I need not to focus on the lemon, but what is coming from the lemon. It takes a lot to grow one lemon tree, but that one tree will produce many lemons. What a blessing that one tree is. What if we look at our lemons that way? God doesn't create junk, and there are reasons He allows things to touch our lives. Why not look upon that lemon as a challenge, as another stepping stone in our life that takes us across that path the Lord is leading. Have you ever seen a mosaic? They are simply beautiful. Little pieces of glass or tiles all put together to create something beautiful. Just that one piece of glass or tile may catch your eye, but when all of them are placed together, wow, what magnificent beauty. All those trials, all those struggles, all those hard times in our lives are being weaved together, glued together, piece by piece, to make a beautiful creation. When we see a lemon tree, we see the beauty, we see the bright color, we see what it produces. May the lemons in our lives be seen the same way with the same beauty. I know its hard, believe me, I am on a journey same as you. But we can take those lemons and we can change the way we forever look at lemonade. Each squeeze, each drop, each taste, makes for something so delicious. When we go to a car lot, there are those we can take a look at and see a lemon, something not worth working with, better left alone right there where it is, but another can see that lemon and see progress, they can see that with great work, hard work, a new creation can be made. Which eyes are you looking through today? A lemon is a lemon, but its what we learn to do with it that counts!Philippians 4:13 " I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" NIV
