When Life Gives You Lemonade

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about that old saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." You know this quote well, I'm sure. It seems like it's the go to when you're being told to make the best out of a bad situation. I've even heard variations of this quote, "When life hands you lemons...suck out all of the Vitamin C," "When life hands you lemons...ask for salt and tequila," "When life hands you lemons...find a kid with a paper cut" (that one's kind of mean, and I'm not sure it's really making the BEST out of a bad situation, sounds like sharing your pain with others?).

We've all heard this quote, and it's always said by someone meaning well. Telling us to make the best of the "sour" situation we're in. I often hear people using this term when talking about life with CF, or to people with CF. And while I get the motivation behind the statement, something, lately, isn't sitting right.

You see, this statement implies that the thing we're dealing with is inherently bad. But that may just be OUR perception of it. If the Lord gives you a struggle, in order to strengthen your character, your faith (and who knows what else) to further His plan and for our ultimate good, is that thing inherently bad? Romans 5:3,4 says: Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

I understand that the argument then becomes, "Right, but that's the point of the saying, something good (Hope/Lemonade) can be made out of something bad (Suffering/Lemons)." But my rebuttal is this: How drastically different would our view of hardships be if all along we viewed them as lemonade? What if we never had to force ourselves to create the lemonade out of the lemons? Instead, what if every hand we were dealt we assumed was lemonade? Some lemonade may be more sour, some may be very sweet, but never-the-less, it's all lemonade.

How would your life look if everything was lemonade? How would your view of your job change? How would your view of our marriage change? How would your view of CF change? How much easier would the day be, if everything was lemonade?