Make Lemonade out of Lemons

Life is full of lemons; use the lemons to get better not bitter.

 

1. I have been coaching my son’s basketball team for the past few months. I noticed how the parents act during the game. For example, picture yourself sitting on the bleacher as a parent and you look to your right. Guess whose sitting next to you? It’s that parent who is overly emotional. You gesture to the parent to say hi and they say, “Do you see Johnny he doing so well?” You say, Ah yeah. To get the parent to shut up. Then your eyes fixate on the court again and you see your son with the ball... he shoots and he scores. You jump out of your seat...yell, That’s my boy!!! You start giving high fives to all of the parents around you. All of them just smile. Then that overly emotional parent that was sitting to your right looks at the parent beside him and says “Wow, I wonder how he would have reacted if his son would have actually scored for our team and not the opposing team.”
2. I want to share with you, how you can get the most out of this message.
   1. You need to be that overly excited parent for God and his word.
   2. Be ready to yell, scream, clap, and cheer for your God.
   3. The Excitement has been proven to make you feel better which equates to you doing better.
3. Let’s do a quick exercise.
   1. I want you to sit where you are and say with a sad face “Lemons, Get Better not Bitter”.
   2. Now,  I want you to smile and say “Lemons, Get Better not Bitter.
   3. This time I want you to jump up out of your seat, like the overly excited parent and say “Lemons, Get Better not Bitter!”
   4. How did that feel? You control your feelings not the outside circumstances.
4. Lemons + Sweet Water = Lemonade
   1. Have you ever eaten a lemon? If so, you know it is very sour and bitter. It puckers your mouth and makes you wince. Sometimes our life is like a lemon -- bitter.
   2. As we go through life we learn that sometimes life is a lemon -- sour, bitter, a troubled time that makes us suffer and miserable. Those times weigh down our heart and give us a sad face. When such a time comes upon you, what does God tell you to do?