WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS …

We all know the phrase “when life gives you lemons … you make lemonade”. I’ve been hearing that saying since a child. However, I’ve only really accepted the concept in adulthood. I’m sure it’s due to the fact that, with life comes wisdom. The more life you experience, the more you see that life really gives you lemons. But that’s only one ingredient to the formula. It’s our responsibility to provide ourselves with the water and the sugar. And even when we have that, it’s our job to mix the ingredients.

               Most of the time, the lemons in life are usually the hard times, right? Since lemons are sour, and usually not enjoyable on their own. But hard times don’t have to be the thing the keeps us down. A lot of time, the hard times are propelling us and conforming us into a whole new version of ourselves. And if we look at it through the lens of “this is happening for me, not to me” then it should create a better version of us. A stronger, wiser and more appreciative version of ourselves. In the bible it states, “we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope”. A lot of what we go through is for us, and although it hurts, that pain comes with wisdom. Hence the saying “If you knew better, you would do better”. We can’t know what we don’t learn, and if you are anything like me, nothing teaches me more than life itself. But I find joy in being a student of life, all life is attempting to do, is transform me into the woman that God intended for me to be. There are lessons in everything that we go through, and 9/10 the things that we go through are telling us more about ourselves than we realize. Whether life is teaching you to love yourself more, set boundaries, have more trust in yourself, whatever the case may be, there is a lesson.

               The more we run from lessons, the louder and stronger those lessons will be. God wants us to see where we faulter and from there be able to develop. That’s where the water and sugar come to play, and us learning those lessons and putting them to work in our own lives is where we do the mixing. So, the next time life gives you lemons, ask yourself what is the water and the sugar? What can I take and learn from the situation and turn it and use it for my highest good. Lemons typically suck, yes. But once we add the sugar and water, we can create something wonderful.