A sermon made by my pastor with the same title inspired me to write my thoughts regarding the New Year. Every year is a new adventure, one full of new opportunities, new challenges, new pitfalls, and new accomplishments.
“When life hands you lemons…make lemonade.”
How often have we heard this old adage when we find ourselves in a sticky situation or feeling down? More often than not, it seems like a hard thing to do, especially in the heat of the moment. But the truth is that we have all the ingredients we need when we put our trust in the Lord.
Every New Year finds us making long-term goals and New Year’s resolutions. More often than not, within a month, most of our goals seem out of reach and our resolutions lie on dusty shelves, all but forgotten. When we put faith in our own strength, we are setting ourselves up to fail. Such pride in our own ability was often satirized and shown to be the “Achilles’ Heel” in many Greek myths. The Greeks call such destructive self-pride Hubris and it proved to be the downfall of many of the Greek heroes.
We choose to carry our heavy baggage with us through life, struggling under the strenuous load despite the opportunity to have it lifted for us. All we need do is to turn our burdens over to Christ Jesus and he will help us, no matter the size or importance in our own eyes. He knows our needs, but we must acknowledge them ourselves and bring them before the Lord.
Times have been tough and the world we live in seems to be getting worse every day. We hear constant cries about the world economic crisis. People are losing their jobs, their homes, and their livelihood. In Africa, border wars erupt without warning, food is scarce, and disease is rampant. The Middle East is rocked by fundamentalist violence. Israel invades the Gaza Strip. Our youth are so disturbed that they turn to violence and rebellion to satisfy themselves. Thus says the media…
Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud, it is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the Truth. Thus says the Lord…
So lay your burdens down at the feet of Jesus and he will lift you up. God cares for each and every one of us, regardless of any human labels we may put on ourselves. Life may hand us lemons, but through God’s help and the Lord Jesus Christ, we can turn it around. Go out and make 2009 a lemonade year.
