Friday, December 26, 2008

Life, Lemons, and Lessons


(Photo by KPC)

The baby in the photograph has obviously just had a sour experience, one he doesn’t care to repeat. A little lemon in a tall glass of sweet iced tea is good. Lemonade is a treat provided enough sugar is added to prevent lockjaw. Lemon by itself can be hard to swallow. The saying “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade” may be good advice but it isn’t always easy to do. So how can we deal with the lemons life throws at us? For one thing, we can look for the lesson. There is always a lesson in every experience. The sooner the lesson is learned, the less likely we are to make the same mistake again. Someone once said, “I may get bitten twice, but not by the same dog.” Bad experience plus lesson learned equals fewer repetitions. On the other hand, if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’ll keep getting what we’ve always gotten. In the spiritual realm, each of us has particular weaknesses or sins that may be hard to overcome. We keep making the same mistake, or committing the same sin, over and over. God is loving and forgiving if we ask him, but each time we give in to sin we become less able to overcome it. Likewise, each time we resist temptation, we grow stronger and more able to resist the next time. Like the little fellow above, we can learn that some things in life are not as good as they look and just refuse to try them again.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7, KJV)

By Hazel King
© 2008

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