Lemonade

For the audio version click below:

Alright, so this year wasn’t all that we expected it to be, but let’s not make this just a throw-away year like toilet paper (tp) to be used and forgotten—especially if we waited so long in line for it!  As we say goodbye to 2020, let’s follow the tp trail back to the beginning and look to see just how far we’ve come.  God has an amazing way of helping us make lemonade out of lemons. 

What’s that you say?  LOL!  You don’t like lemonade?  Hmm, neither do I very much—unless it’s chock-full of sugar or maybe has watermelon mixed in.  Well…it’s just a metaphor, and I need to practice thinking positively, so please humor me.  But, I do think that God truly does mix blessings in to sweeten the flavor for us! Not only that, God can turn bad around for good, and we can look forward to that in 2021.  But first, let’s look back so that we can look forward.

              If this year hadn’t been as crazy as it’s been, what would we also have missed? 

~ I know that I, for one, wouldn’t have learned to use GoTo Meeting, Zoom, or BlueJeans, or any of those video meeting tools! I’m not really much of a techie kind of person, but this year’s changed that.

~ I wouldn’t be facing my fears of being seen by video or heard on audio (isn’t it interesting how odd we sound to ourselves in audio recordings?)

~ I also wouldn’t be re-connected through LINE, WhatsApp, and FaceBook Messenger with so many friends and family who are far, far away—or even close by but in a different household, for that matter!

~ I probably wouldn’t have made time to meet with my family regularly just to see each other and stay connected!  Oddly enough, we could have been doing this all along, but somehow, crisis really brings out this sort of change!

~ I wouldn’t have spent as much time with the Lord, reflecting and learning to live more intentionally

~ I definitely wouldn’t have gotten past my fear of fasting: I’m not really a foodie, but I don’t loove the idea of not eating either!

~ I also wouldn’t have learned to pray daily for things happening around the world.  The common crisis we were having across humanity helped move me to pray for more than just my own small corner.

~ And haven’t we all grown in our knowledge of how sickness spreads and how to prevent it and protect ourselves from it?  How to wash our hands effectively?  Now, THERE’S a life skill!! That’s a SAVE-your-life skill!

~ And last but not least, I would not have learned juuust how much people value toilet paper!  Even these things we use once and throw away, these small, seemingly unimportant, mundane things hold much value, especially during crisis!  It helps us to put things in perspective and value the things that we take for granted.

Share with me…what’s in your lemonade? What are some of the unexpected good things that came out of this year?