Have you heard the phrase when life gives you lemons, make lemonade? The tree on the left with the one lonely lemon is ours. Impossible to make lemonade out of that! We have a huge yard and little time, so if our trees don’t learn how to survive with minimal loving care from us, it’s usually hasta la vista plant!
On the right is our neighbor’s lemon tree. It has the same soil and the same aspect, but the difference is that our neighbor waters regularly, prunes, and fertilizes with just the right mixture of nutrients. He tells us that we’re welcome to reach over the fence and take a lemon any time, which we do!
You can likely see where I’m going with this. If these two trees represent the fruits of the Spirit growing in our lives, which tree would we rather be? The tree with the capacity to bless others with an abundance of fruit? Or the tree with all the appearance of a lemon tree, but the fruit is hard to find?
We must fertilize our hearts with God’s Word, allow the Holy Spirit to prune what needs pruning in our lives, and water our souls with an abiding relationship with Jesus. When we neglect these things, there won’t be as much evidence of fruit. We’ll be like my poor little lemon tree, which is trying really hard to push out fruit on its own efforts!
When we’re tending to our relationship with God then the natural by-product is fruit! Lots of fruit! Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…all growing in our lives despite the growing conditions being tough sometimes.
It’s inevitable that life will at times “give us lemons,” but with Holy Spirit fruit that comes from abiding in Jesus and the good soil of God’s Word, we’ll be able to trust that our heavenly Father is actually growing our capacity to make some lemonade!
©Quietly Roaring 2023. All Rights Reserved.
Quietly Roaring 
Great lesson, Jo!!!!
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Thanks Mandy, I hope there’s many more analogies that will pop in reader’s minds!
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Yes, this is a great lesson about the discipline it takes to be a true disciple of Jesus. Fellowship with God, and the resulting fruit, just doesn’t happen. We must be purposeful in our walk with the Lord.
Great post, Jo! God Bless.
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As a mum with young kids I remember trying by my own efforts to be more patient… wasn’t till I learned how to lean on the Lord that my patience started to grow. So true that we must be purposeful. Thanks for your comment David.
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What a lovely illustration Jo, thank you for sharing it with us today. May our Father God richly bless you sister as you bear fruit for Him🙏
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And you too Alan. 🙏
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When we tend to our relationship with God, the natural by product is fruit – such a good reminder Jo.
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Thanks Manu. Have a lovely weekend!
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The first thing to go when not being in the Word is patience…then the rest of the fruits seem to follow patience out the door. Great real life analogy
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I tend to agree…when I think about times I’ve drifted out of abiding patience has definitely being the first fruit to shrivel up!
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Jo, this is a beautiful analogy! What great contrasting images of the two trees to help remember the lesson. We need Living Water, spiritual nutrients from the Word of God, and pruning for an abundance of fruit. God bless you.
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I do pity our lemon tree when I compare it to how it could be! Blessings to you today Manette!
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Wow, Jo! Your pictures and lesson from the lemons nailed an important truth- without pruning and fertilizing we’re not going to grow fruit in abundance. And I love the thought that with the Holy Spirit lemons are always transformed into lemonade.
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When I noticed how much more fruit our neighbor’s tree was producing it caused me some pondering, that’s for sure! 😆
Blessings to you today Beth.
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Great illustration and a timely reminder of the part we play in our growth and maturity.
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Thankyou! 😊
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Great post, Jo! You say a lot in a few words, something I strive to do! Blessings!
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Thanks for your kind words Cindy.
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Oh wow, nice and enticing blog post here. I agree when life gives you lemons make lemonade. Although, making lemonade with one lemon is just impossible, at least 2 or 3 lemons will suffice😂😂😋
Oh and I like to make lemonade
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Thanks for stopping by to comment. I agree lemonade is good to make. 🙂
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