When Lemonade
Isn't the Answer
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food, and the body more
important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they
do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable
than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour
to his life? Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)
Isn't the Answer
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food, and the body more
important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they
do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable
than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour
to his life? Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)
I'm a pretty positive person. When life offers lemons, I not only make lemonade, I bake
a lemon meringue pie, I use the extra lemon juice to shine my kitchen faucet and I
freshen up the garbage disposal with the lemon rinds. Nice try, life - the arrival of
lemons is just an opportunity to trot out my upbeat attitude.
But sometimes it isn't a bushel of life's lemons that arrives at your doorstep. Instead, to
your dismay, there is a heaping basket of limes sitting there, daring you to do something
uplifting with them! Limes just aren't as easy. Various cocktails and garnishes aside,
they require a great deal of thought and research as to how to best put them to use.
Some action must be taken, because if you ignore them, they won't go away, they will
just become even less appealing and more of a challenge. Limes at my door - no fair! I
signed up for a lime-free life!
Life's day-to-day lemon-flavored worries are pretty easy to offer up in prayer. It doesn't
take a great deal of faith for us to turn tight finances, tempestuous teens or an irritating
work assignment over to God. We pray and then let go of our worries, fairly confident
that we will be lovingly guided through to the eventual cessation of our woes.
Life's limes are harder to turn over to God. Perhaps we are deeply frightened by a
serious illness, anguished over the loss of a loved one or acutely anxious over a change in
our employment. We want to turn to our Lord for help in our time of need, but now we
wonder; what if our prayers go unheard, unanswered? This is big stuff and the stakes
are high. Sometimes we are so wrapped up in our worries that we forget that we are
forever loved and forgiven and we think, what if God sent those limes because He's
angry with us for our sinful lives? Immobilized by fear and guilt, we brood over our
limes, but do nothing about them. They begin to rot. Worry replaces prayer and we
wallow in our unhappiness.
Thankfully, our Father loves us so deeply that He sent His beloved and innocent Son to
take our sins, our lime-laden lives, to the cross for us. With that act of infinite love and
compassion, our miserable lives are washed clean, our sins forgiven. Jesus, our Savior,
stands ready to guide our steps no matter what arrives at our door - lemons, limes or
even grapefruits! I know that I can confidently turn all my most heart-wrenching
worries, all my deepest fears over to God in prayer, for He will not forsake me because
of my weakness and my flaws, but He will instead hold me close to Him through my
most difficult hours. When those limes start to pile up in my life, I'll remember this: I
don't have to deal with them alone, for I am loved! And so are you.
© 2008 Elizabeth Williams
a lemon meringue pie, I use the extra lemon juice to shine my kitchen faucet and I
freshen up the garbage disposal with the lemon rinds. Nice try, life - the arrival of
lemons is just an opportunity to trot out my upbeat attitude.
But sometimes it isn't a bushel of life's lemons that arrives at your doorstep. Instead, to
your dismay, there is a heaping basket of limes sitting there, daring you to do something
uplifting with them! Limes just aren't as easy. Various cocktails and garnishes aside,
they require a great deal of thought and research as to how to best put them to use.
Some action must be taken, because if you ignore them, they won't go away, they will
just become even less appealing and more of a challenge. Limes at my door - no fair! I
signed up for a lime-free life!
Life's day-to-day lemon-flavored worries are pretty easy to offer up in prayer. It doesn't
take a great deal of faith for us to turn tight finances, tempestuous teens or an irritating
work assignment over to God. We pray and then let go of our worries, fairly confident
that we will be lovingly guided through to the eventual cessation of our woes.
Life's limes are harder to turn over to God. Perhaps we are deeply frightened by a
serious illness, anguished over the loss of a loved one or acutely anxious over a change in
our employment. We want to turn to our Lord for help in our time of need, but now we
wonder; what if our prayers go unheard, unanswered? This is big stuff and the stakes
are high. Sometimes we are so wrapped up in our worries that we forget that we are
forever loved and forgiven and we think, what if God sent those limes because He's
angry with us for our sinful lives? Immobilized by fear and guilt, we brood over our
limes, but do nothing about them. They begin to rot. Worry replaces prayer and we
wallow in our unhappiness.
Thankfully, our Father loves us so deeply that He sent His beloved and innocent Son to
take our sins, our lime-laden lives, to the cross for us. With that act of infinite love and
compassion, our miserable lives are washed clean, our sins forgiven. Jesus, our Savior,
stands ready to guide our steps no matter what arrives at our door - lemons, limes or
even grapefruits! I know that I can confidently turn all my most heart-wrenching
worries, all my deepest fears over to God in prayer, for He will not forsake me because
of my weakness and my flaws, but He will instead hold me close to Him through my
most difficult hours. When those limes start to pile up in my life, I'll remember this: I
don't have to deal with them alone, for I am loved! And so are you.
© 2008 Elizabeth Williams