Lemonade

In the past year, I have experienced stress to an unprecedented degree. My responsibilities at work continue to grow, though the number of hours in a day haven’t caught on to this trend yet. My classes have gotten harder as I get closer to graduation. A year ago Michael and I were packing up our apartment and getting ready to move in with his parents in our final stretch of waiting for our house.

Those of you who know me well know that stress isn’t an easy thing for me to handle. I never really learned how to deal with stress emotionally, so that’s been part of the issue. More than that though, my body doesn’t deal well with stress. I’ve gotten headaches, aches, pains, exhaustion, panic attacks - it’s a seemingly endless list. All signs my body wants me to stop. Take a second. BREATHE.

I know I’m not alone in my poor stress management skills. I know I’m not the only one in survival mode. However, more and more I am realizing that my survival mode isn’t as intense as I believe it is. A really great friend Sarah Ritter helped spark this inside me. I’m not sure exactly what she said, but it was along the lines of “I catch myself praying for my own strength when really I need to pray for those around me.” I bet this sentence is applicable to 98% of people. How easy is it to ask for strength in our exhaustion, for help in our distress, and to not even notice that the person next to us is doing the exact same thing? Or, even worse, the person next to us doesn’t have anywhere to turn. They are relying on their own strength to do everything.

In the quick-service world (a fancy way of saying fast-food), I work with a lot of teenagers. But when I stop and think about it, how many stories do I know? How many people do I work next to every single day can I actually pray for, knowing their needs? This is my job, and I am failing at it. I get caught up in numbers, caught up in creating improvement, caught up in a world that doesn’t really have anything in comparison to the Kingdom.

So here’s my analogy to tie in my mysterious title, “Lemonade.” Ready?

“When life gives you lemons…” You know how it goes.

My goal over the next couple of weeks is to pray for others around me more than myself. That will be my form of making lemonade. After all, what is sweeter than noticing the needs of those around you and going to the One who can actually do something about it.

I’d also like to throw this out there – the more lemon juice you have, the more sugar you need to make lemonade.

What is your sugar? How are you making your sour life sweet?

 

 

(Just as a side note: I REALLY like lemonade.)