More on Lemonade

In my 11 July posting, I reflected on why turning life's lemons into lemonade isn't the wisest path as it leaves you missing out on the more important things you are meant to learn.  I wanted to share a few more thoughts on this point.

I read recently that lemonade is actually not a very healthy way of refreshing yourself.  The amount of sugar added to turn the tangy lemons into that sweet drink is enormous.  That means you're adding unnecessary calories into your diet.  Think for a moment now how that might relate to turning life's challenges into lemonade - you're using sugar to mask the true essence of the lemon and not really transforming the lemons themselves.

When you pour lots of positive into life's mix of challenges, you really end up hiding the true essence of the lesson you are meant to learn, not transforming it into something better.  The sourness is still there, but now just hidden underneath.  We all know that the lessons we fail to learn will always come back to us again either through similar circumstances or disguised in a new challenge.  Every time we fail to embrace them, we kick the can down the road further only to find the can again.

I love lemonade, but I'm also keenly aware that a little lemonade may be fine now and then, but a regular diet will add pounds to my waistline and make me more sluggish and less healthy.  An unhealthy body creates all kinds of other unintended consequences.  The same is true with the mind and spirit.  The more unhealthy you are spiritually, the less prepared you are in the future to overcome life's inevitable challenges.  You won't be able to move quickly, you'll tire more easily, and it's a vicious cycle that only gets worse over time.

As I mentioned in my earlier posting, embracing the real essence of life's lemons allow us to integrate the lessons sooner rather than later.  If your habit is to keep making lemonade out of those circumstances, in the end, you'll end up with a spirit burdened by the weight of your past and unable to navigate the future.