Lemons and Lemonade

"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." David Brinkley

My oldest friend is a woman with an amazing knack for turning lemons into lemonade. We've been friends since we were teenagers, and she was that way even then. She has taken any number of negative circumstances in her life and turned them into something good.

Everything that happens to us has some useful purpose at some point in our lives. At the time, something negative can seem like nothing but random, senseless, painful crap. I don't spend a lot of time wondering why things happen anymore. I don't search for some mysterious lesson in life, for I have learned that sooner or later it will be obvious. It's best just to deal with it, cope with it, and get on with your life.

Are you familiar with the story of Joseph, the one with the colorful coat? He was his father's favorite and his older brothers hated him for it. So they left him in a pit and led Dad to believe he was dead. Joseph's life was literally and figuratively in the pits, he became a slave, had a number of other awful things befall him, but eventually he became second in command in his country. A very powerful man. His brothers left their home because of a famine and went to the city to get food, and encountered Joseph. They thought for sure he'd kill them and who would blame him? But Joseph was one of those people who knew how to make lemonade. He said, "You meant evil to me, but God meant it for good, to save many people." Joseph was instrumental in relieving the famine. He went back home with his brothers, saw his old dad and everyone had lots of food and lived happily ever. It turned out that the worst thing that ever happened to Joseph was actually the best thing that ever happened to him. Sometimes people do bad things to us with malicious intent, no two ways about it. But those who know how to make lemonade find a way to turn it around for good, for themselves and others who have the great fortune of knowing them.

Susan