Sometimes life isn't fair. Sometimes it gives you lemons when you're totally unequipped to make lemonade. You're simply stuck with a big bowl of lemons. No sugar. No water. Nada. And people expect you not to go sour even though you're surrounded by bitter bitter lemons. And when you ultimately shrivel up from the sheer intensity of the lemon juice all around you, people wonder what happened. But no matter how you explain it to them, they always tell you the same thing: "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
I don't know about you, but that's a pretty haughty thing to say. I'm not God. All I have is lemons. How am I supposed to make lemonade? Is life going to drop some water and sugar on me too? I don't have the ability to magically make those necessary items appear. All I have is a bowl of lemons.
It's in these moments it gets really easy to give up. To say there's no way to make lemonade so I may as well rot with these useless lemons. It's easy to blame yourself for not picking up extra sugar last time you were at the supermarket. You get down and find yourself just as sour as the lemons you're stuck with. You become useless. Just like the lemons.
On your own.
That's an important statement. On our own we can easily become totally and completely useless. When times get tough we want to retreat within ourselves and rely on our own strength to get us through. But just because we're strong enough to peel and juice lemons doesn't mean we're strong enough to make lemonade. We still lack the necessary ingredients. We need HELP.
Where do we find it though? When life is so bitter and sour, where do we find sugar to sweeten it and water to dilute it? For the answer we must look outside ourselves.
Sugar is a small but important part of proper lemonade. In life, sugar is created by the sweetness of good friendship and is most easily found in the magical moments spent with the most important people in your life. In excess it can overwhelm the batch, but when measured and used with care it creates a beautiful taste which refreshes the soul.
As yummy as sugar is, however, water is the most important part of lemonade. Without it, the flavors are too strong and contrasting to be enjoyable. Water is found in the presence of Christ, who brings incomprehensible peace in our most bitter moments. He balances the strong, contrasting flavors of life and restores our souls when they become dry and withered. And like water, Christ can be found anywhere as long as we are willing to seek him out.
On our own all we can ever have is sour, bitter lemons. We need fellowship to sweeten us, and Christ to fill our cup. On our own we will never be enough. We will always need help from God and those He's blessed us with to provide the ingredients we lack. Community. Friendship. Fellowship. Love. This is the only way to ever make the perfect cup of lemonade. When life gives you lemons, don't lose heart. The right ingredients are out there. You just have to look outside
