Lemons and Lemon Pie

"In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher." Dalai Lama

Have you heard of the Zucchini Bandit? She was a woman whose garden produced an overabundance of zucchini squash. At first her neighbors, friends and coworkers were happy to take some off her hands, but after a while they began to refuse her zucchini overtures. They were just plain sick and tired of zucchini. Now I don't know if it's a true story or a joke or an urban legend, but soon throughout the neighborhood people would open their front doors in the morning to find that "someone" had dropped off some zucchini during the night.

I used to live in a home that had a lemon tree in the backyard, and our neighbors knew they were welcome to come over and pick some lemons. One neighbor in particular was very happy about this. She showed up at our door one day holding a lemon meringue pie she had baked. Never before or since have I experienced a more beautiful or delicious lemon meringue pie. The meringue was in perfect golden peaks, the crust flaky and the filling the perfect mixture of sweet and tart. She handed me the pie and said it was her way of thanking us for the lemons. You've heard that old saw, I'm sure, about when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. She took it one step further and made the most delightful pie.

Sometimes it is our enemy who teaches us life's most valuable lessons. Now please don't misunderstand me, for what is wrong will NEVER be right. But we won't experience true happiness until we learn to make lemonade (or lemon pie) out of the lemons that come our way. And we will never know true peace until we can say, from the bottom of the heart, "Thank you for the lemons."

Susan