A wise friend once told me a story. This story is about a lemon tree.
“Life is like a tree of lemons. The further and further up the tree you go, there will always be sour people. However, you have to realize that you are not from this tree but, rather an Apple tree planted next to it. These lemons next to you will continue to be sour the rest of your life. Your duty as a member of the Apple tree family is not to let any of the sour lemon juice affect you, but live your life in sweetness. You will never live a day where you will not encounter lemons. Instead, you should feel bad and pray for the lemons, because they do not know what it means to be sweet.”
As I struggle through college wondering, “Who are my true friends?”. I will always think back to the truth this message holds. When life seems tough and hard to bear, it's the friends who stick right by my side that I know I need to hang on to.
It is easy to identify the lemons in life if you're willing to. However, if you allow the lemons in your life to stay in your life, you will soon find out how easy it becomes for them to walk all over you. If you're anything like me, you love to please and hate to disappoint. That is why we become so vulnerable. During your path to succeed and fulfill your plans and dreams, you will encounter people who only want to drag you back to where you started. It is so important that your priority is yourself. If you allow these people to affect the way you live your life, you will forever live in the shadow of your lemons.
As a Christian struggling through college, God has revealed my lemons to me and sent me on a mission to focus on myself. The reason He did this was to show me who was needed and not needed in my life. He revealed to me who had already served their purpose in my life. He did this to force or help me grow. These negative people will only hinder me on my ladder to success.
Heed my advice when I say figure out who your lemons are. Let them go and move on. Life is too short to be stuck on your sweet apple tree branch waiting for a lemon to allow you to grow, it will never happen.
Pray for these people, however, for they may never come across another person who is as kind as you are; and remember what it means to be, and taste, sweetness.
