When Life Hands You Lemons… Pass the Salt

When we moved to Southeast Texas from the Midwest and I learned that I could grow lemons. Sweet, juicy, delectable Meyer lemons grew in abundance from what looked like a twig I bought on a whim, and convinced Michael to load in the back of our SUV. I love lemons. And I love growing things, so it was a match made in heaven, right there in Sam’s Club. Yes. I bought a lemon tree at the big box store, and it was so good.

God loves growing things too.

Especially when life hands us lemons.

Sweet and Sour Lemons

Lemons are not mentioned in the Bible, not exactly. Stick with me. During the Feast of Tabernacles, a huge celebration commemorating and rejoicing in the fulfillment of God’s promise, the Israelites ate something called etrog. Etrog is Hebrew for citron. Etrog is fragrant like a lemon and is filled with a sweet taste like… my Meyer lemon!  Still grown today, it is thought this fruit represented the heart during the Feast of Tabernacles. A changed heart. Because God changed the hearts of his people during their 40 years of being lost, the etrog was a reminder of the work in their lives.

Finished with the history lesson, but you get the picture. Historically and if you have the right variety, lemons aren’t all that sour.

But sometimes… they are. Just like life, sometimes, we get a sour lemon. And how are we supposed to celebrate life with sour lemons? If you are like me, you don’t always know and understand what God is doing, or what he wants you to do in the midst of the sour season.

Pass the Salt

I learned from my dad that the sour punch of lemons is lessened with a pouring of salt. Notice I didn’t say sprinkling. I am talking a serious shake of the salt. And a serious shaking of salt is exactly how we lessen the punch of our sour season.

Biblical salt.

Salt of the Scriptures has a lot to teach us. I will save the long version for later, but in short, salt is symbolic of God’s covenant (2 Chronicles 13:5,) preserving our faith; and perhaps one of the most recognized salt passages in scripture is Matthew 5:13 where we are called to be the salt of the earth.

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” Matthew 5:13

If you are a child of God, you’ve got two things to remember when life hands you lemons.

• God’s covenant with his people in the Old Testament is your new covenant in Christ through his death, burial and resurrection.
• You are called to be the salt of the earth. No matter how lost in the wilderness we feel, our divine purpose is always in preserving (like salt) the teachings of Christ and seasoning (like salt) with the love of Christ no matter what our circumstances may be.