When Life Gives You Lemons

When you buy a house, especially an old house, you sometimes inherit things you don't want and can't seem to get rid of. Such was the case when we bought our forever home almost five years ago. Behind the house there are two cement pylons which once supported an oil barrel. The furnace and oil barrel have long since been removed from the house but the two pylons remain. 

They're ugly to say the least. If I was 30 years younger I may have attempted to break them apart with a sledge hammer but I'm older and wiser now and am realizing my limitations. I never think about these eye sores until I'm in the back yard and then their hideous existence hits me full in the face and I find myself wishing they were gone. 

I've spent four summers hating them and was about to enter my fifth when my mother-in-law blessed me with two beautiful vines that she suggested would look lovely covering the offending pylons. Bless her! Today I covered them with chicken wire and planted a vine in front of each one. The vines will hopefully grow quickly and maybe by next summer I'll no longer have to see them sticking out like a sore thumb. 

This whole episode reminded me of that old saying: "when life gives you lemons make lemonade". In other words take what you've been given, whether an object or a circumstance, and make something good out of it. God does that for us, doesn't He? When we put our trust in Him, He takes the mess we've made of our life, all the mistakes, all the sin and He turns it into something beautiful. He doesn't just cover the problem like I'm covering my ugly pylons, no, the Bible says that He cleans us up and gives us a fresh start. He throws our sins away and won't ever remind us of them again. The Bible even says that when He forgives us, we are a new creation. A brand new person. 

My inherited pylons are still ugly right now but soon they will be covered in a beautiful green leafy vine that will turn red in the fall. When I see those red leaves I know I'll be reminded of the price Christ paid for my sins. He shed His own blood so that I could be forgiven of my sins and be reconciled with God the Father. He took something ugly and made it (me) to be acceptable to God.