Turning Lemons into Lemonade

by Alexandra Copeland

Lemons get a bad rap. It’s an egg-shaped, sour, but cute little yellow fruit that we use for all sorts of purposes. We use its rind and juice to flavor our foods and drinks, and even use the juice as a natural cleaning agent. It doesn’t have the sweetness that most of us expect from fruit, in fact it’s hard not to make a sour face when tasting a lemon. No doubt the notorious sour face conjures up reminders of emotions related to other stuff that elicits the same response. For instance, spending hard earned and way too much cash on a used car that begins to fall apart as soon as you drive it off the lot, this is a sour situation. So, we refer to a worthless used car as a lemon, but like just about everything else that we encounter, there’s an up-side to getting a lemon in life. Success and continued spiritual growth demand that we see it.

It’s common to use the term ‘lemon’ to mean a faulty or defective item, because most of us recognize that not only will a lemon bring out sour emotions about the dilemma that comes with it, the defective item referred to as a lemon will also diminish our resources in some way. We lose time by having to repair what is broken or trying to replace it. Some of us become weary in life because we’ve had more than a few lemons. We begin to think that everything we touch turns into one; everything feels like a disappointment waiting to happen. For many of us, the lemon may seem like a mountain we can’t get over.

In Matthew 21:21(NLT), Jesus Christ offers us a divine spiritual strategy for handling the mountains we encounter in life. He said to the disciples, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.” Our Lord and Savior tells us to have faith and don’t doubt. This is the methodology for turning lemons into lemonade, so that instead of sour faces, we’re relaxed and sipping on a nice delicious drink.

The methodology for guaranteeing a positive outcome to any situation is using the law of faith that God has given us. It’s trusting Him and knowing that no matter what is presented before our eyes, Romans 8:28 assures us that He’s going to turn it around for our good. In Proverbs 3:5-6, He tells us to trust in Him with all our hearts and with everything we do. He tells us not to lean on our understanding, but to lean totally and completely on Him. Leaning on our knowledge base won’t get us very far. All of us know when things are not right with us. From an intellectual standpoint, we might also know what it will take to fix the problem or make it better. But knowing this information doesn’t make lemonade. In other words, just knowing information doesn’t fix the problem or issue.

Some of the greatest cooks say that the best flavor combo is a mix of both sweet and sour. Lemonade is a testament of this. On a hot summer day, add sugar and water to the tart, citrusy juice of lemons and you’ll feel right as rain. Spiritually, the same can be said of our commitment to seek God in all things. When we allow Him to direct our paths, we are putting faith in the mix. Add the mental attitude of confidence to the positive confession of God’s promises and you’ve got an internal connection that lifts a mountain. 

We can learn valuable spiritual lessons from the lemons in life. They teach us that our Heavenly Father can take any situation and turn it around for our good. We make a huge mistake when we expect external circumstances to change before we change internally. It simply won’t happen. Our thoughts, confessions, and attitude must change first. The Word of God must connect with our hearts. So we should always expect great things from God and have a mental attitude and heart-itude that supports our faith in the power and love of Jesus Christ. This will give those lemons a good squeeze and transform the sour into a satisfying drink of life.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.