"There’s no lemon so sour that you can’t make something resembling lemonade”
Many of us have watched the popular TV series, This Is Us. Six brilliant seasons taking us on a journey of highs and lows, twists and turns, joys and sorrow; each undergirded by this phrase. I loved watching this series, it gripped from the beginning and year on year I would await the next instalment of the Pearson family. Many felt the same. And why? Perhaps for each of us there is something we can identify with, see ourselves in the story, recognise in the characters - the truth is life is filled with up and downs and often each year has its fair share, let alone across ones lifetime.
As I look back and reflect upon our own year as a family there has been both sweet and sour moments. As I‘ve taken time to consider the 2022 that my friends, family and those I have the privilege of leading at Freedom Church have had, they too are characterised by sweet and sour moments. And for some the sour moments have left a lasting bitter taste, outlasting the sweet, which from a purely human perspective is completely understandable.
The phrase "there’s no lemon so sour that you can’t make something resembling lemonade” brings with it a bittersweet challenge and as it sits above our kettle so beautifully embroidered the words have a tendency to echo in my head often, seeking to sink deep into the depths of my heart when it feels stoney and hard. In those times I don’t want to let the words penetrate, I don’t want to consider what it might look like to make lemonade from the sour lemons. From that place I can merely begin to appreciate why those around me who have experienced deep, life altering pain and heartbreak, might feel disinclined to believe the words of such a phrase.
The often misquoted verse from Romans 8 v 28 declaring that God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose is the Christian version of this lemonade phrase. Somehow we’re supposed to find comfort in the knowledge that these places of pain are going to be used for our good, for our growth, for our benefit. Somehow these places of brokenness and trauma when concocted well are promised to create a tasty, thirst quenching lemonade which we can enjoy. I don’t believe this verse or this phrase means this.
Instead the power and truth of these words is about a shifting perspective; recognising the pain, giving it space and inviting in the Spirit which helps us in our weakness and wordless groans (Romans 8 v 26). When we do this we connect with something beyond our humanity and invite in the divine whose love for us we cannot ever be disconnected from (Romans 28 v 39). When we chose to let our deepest pain cry out to heaven, we shift perspective and then heavens eternal good prevails and lemonade is created. Whether we feel it, taste it or experience it here on earth, something supernatural transcends.
As we step over the threshold of one year into the next, whether your 2022 has been filled with mostly sweet or mostly sour moments, my prayer is that you would be able to savour the sweetness of the lemonade with joy and thankfulness. And if so needed, that you too would take the sour lemons and be courageous enough to let out your loud belly groans to heaven, making invitation for the Holy Spirit do the work of the divine in your life, thus creating something resembling lemonade.
Much love and blessings,
Lizi x
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