Making Lemonade


This weekend I needed to make lemonade, but not the kind your thinking!  Yes, on a hot day, a tall glass of lemonade can sooth the parched throat and sweeten the day.  This was a warm, summer-like weekend, but what I really needed was new perspective.  How could "lemonade" help find a new perspective? 

As a kid, when the going got rough, my Mom would say, "Make lemonade."  Of course, she was referring to the saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."  This has stuck with me over the years.  It may sound trite, but in every situation, we can look for the good.  We can choose to see the good and focus on the blessings.

As I struggled this weekend with a sick baby, an out-of-town Daddy, grumpy kids and a mommy who was not feeling so good, I tried to look for the good.  Not every moment went so well, for the "sugar" was sometimes in short supply.  Here's what I came up with for our weekend situation:
  1. We are so blessed to have modern medicine to take care of our little guy's ear infection. 
  2. I am beyond grateful for all the help and support from extended family.  Grandparents are a joy and I'm so glad they were there for my children's soccer games this weekend!
  3. I am so glad that my hubby got the opportunity for a weekend retreat.  When we miss him this much, we know how very special he is to us. 
  4. Yes, grumpy moments came for the kids and for mommy, but so did very special, sweet moments.  I'm going to choose to remember the sweet moments.
"Making lemonade" out of difficult situations can be hard, but it is worthwhile.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 directs us to "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  In every situation, we have the choice of how we are going to approach it. 

In the little moments and in the large life trials, we have a choice.  How will we approach this small bump or large mountain?  Even when "making lemonade" is hard, God can and will give us the grace to rejoice in every situation.  We can seek his face and find a way to give thanks.  Can you find something to give thanks for in your challenging situation?  Do you have any special moments when you were able to "make lemonade" and it changed your perspective?


~ photos courtesy of Wikipedia

Popular posts from this blog

To Share, Or Not To Share . . . . .

Image
Or Why My Brother Is The Best Brother In The World My brother recently received a very strange message.  It began something like this,  "Hi Tim.  You've given me a very difficult moral and ethical dilemma - To Share or not To Share . . . . "  I believe these pictures might explain better than my words can. Chocolate covered strawberries.  Let's get a little closer, please.   These beauties arrived courtesy of my brother. I tried the delightful Dark chocolate. It tasted even better than it looks. Not even this morsel of chocolate was left when I was finished with that first strawberry. So, to answer as to how I handled my delima, well, I shared (a little, anyway).  And yes, YOU may think that you have the best brother in the world, but I will always know the truth . . . . I do!
Read more

Does Perspective Really Matter?

Image
  “Timing Is Everything”   My Perspective Makes a Difference "A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE POND",  discovered and photographed by our middle son. Bible verses often speak to me in different ways at different times. They can be medicine for my soul. But sometimes, it's not the right time for that particular "medicine" (verse or passage). This morning, I read some verses that were just what I needed, but in a different moment, could have leveled me- like a few moments that occurred just last night.  Yesterday was a beautiful day. The day held a rare, special feeling that made it glow like one of the "best days ever”. It wasnt the weather, it was quite uncomfortable around here. And it definitely was not because I was in a tropical paradise, because I stayed close to home and the midwest is wonderful, but it's no tropical paradise! Instead, it glowed because each moment fit together just like it was supposed to, only better. Days like that are rare and preci
Read more

Igniting My Re-imagined Dream - How I am embracing the past, living life to the fullest and hoping for the best.

Image
Come On a Photo and Word Journey With Me: Taking a Deep Breath , Sharing the Present, Looking Into My Past     Our dog, Marvel, lounging-  with us at the pond. OR ~ A walk through some photos with me while I reminisce and share my thoughts Some of "our growing guys" lounging at the pond. Welcome back. I am so glad you dropped by. For a few weeks now, we (my family and I) weathered multiple cycles of conversing, writing, re-writinig, editing, and publishing as I churned out posts with their support, insight and edititing prowess holding me up. After I pushed through the last large piece, I was not sure what was up next on the blog. As an escape, I dipped into boxes of old photos that needed to be organized and cared for before our move planned for later this summer. I enjoyed looking at the many pictures and, sharing some of them, and I even turned a few of them into "art pieces." I would also love to digitize those photos soon. I found some beautiful ones from my ea
Read more

Another day, another pair of dirty socks!

Image
Yesterday, I found myself slipping back into old habits.  "Don't get muddy!" and "Stay of of the water!" rang forth across our front yard.  The truth of the matter is, little boys playing in a muddy yard are bound to get dirty.  I can issue orders to stay clean, but if I really want them to stay clean, I need to keep them inside.  Being that I want them to play outside, the reality of spring and summer must take precedence.  Another day, another pair of dirty socks will just have to rule the day!
Read more

Sunday Afternoon Thoughts

Sunday Where My Heart Is Resting These Days ~A Heart Story That Might Sting Just a Little~ 💜💓💙 💓 💜 Happy Sunday. I hope today finds you blessed and refreshed. Confessions are hard, but I hope that in sharing mine, I can bless you and even myself as I pour them out. Sundays are quite different now than they used to be. I used to put so much pressure on myself to "get everything right" on Sunday mornings that I often missed the blessing or the refreshing/resting, and sometimes I missed both.  In my hurry, scramble and push to show up looking my best and in drive to do my best at home and at church. Once children came along, then having "the children" looking and doing (behaving) their best always trumped, but never took away my scramblings to also have myself appearing cared for. I think that I missed the whole point of Sundays. I admit, I was quite young and naive. On top of that, I took my religion quite seriously. I took EVERYTHING seriously. The reasons for w
Read more

The Conclusions of Why We Didn’t Sue Our Physician

  Journey Part 3 - The Conclusions ~  Forgiveness is my key to emotional healing.  ~ I believe that forgiveness and emotional healing aid physical healing. I have been given so much help in the area of emotional healing. Family, friends, Sunday School teachers, pastors, teachers, our awesome family counselor and so many members of my healthcare team continue to support and encourage not just my physical needs, but also my emotions. I have been blessed to also be given forgiveness liberally from others which frees me to forgive more easily myself when I need to.   Forgiving, I learned over the years, is my key to digging out bitter thoughts, angry replies and over time releasing the hurt that drags me back to the pain in my mind. I have 43 years of solid “practice in forgiving”, but please, please don’t ask for my report card.  I hesitate to share that I rarely felt the "feeling of forgiveness" until recently, and that feeling occasionally wavers. That’s the thing about forgi
Read more

Why We Didn't Sue the Doctor, Part 2 of the Journey

Rooting out the Problems Part 2 🕊 We chose to NOT take legal action against our physician. It took a great amount of time, thought, prayer, personal consideration, and input from trusted advisors. The first moment I wondered if I should, I prayed to ask God’s guidance.  I asked him to guard me from rash decisions. I asked for protectection for every individual involved or touched by my choices. I wondered and prayed about my responsibility to others who faced similar struggles.  My very short prayer, which covered all this and more, was simply the words "Help Me". I utttered those words of prayer in the middle of the night, in desperation and exhaution after I read and re-read material that deeply concerned me. Those words helped me lay down my burdens. I cried “Abba, Father” (just "help me) in my heart, curled up in his emotional arms and cried myself to sleep. We have come a long way since this thought first crossed my mind. We worked through our personal decisions ov
Read more

Family Vacation from February

Image
Our Family Vacation Back in February, we took a lovely vacation in Florida.  While we were there, our boys experienced the joy of the ocean for the very first time.  Daddy and Little Man Big Brother feels the waves. Momaw The Three Musketeers Looking out to the great beyond.
Read more