When life gives you lemons, plant a tree!
In 1998, my in-laws traveled to Palm Springs, California to visit a cousin and to play in the Bob Hope Desert Classic golf tournament. While on the course, they came upon a house where a lemon tree was so laden with orange sized lemons that the owner encouraged my mother-in-law to take all she wanted. So, she did.
Nana and Papa travelled back to their home state of Missouri with a bushel of California lemons in tow. In the following week or so, Nana proceeded to make lemon meringue pie, pitchers of lemonade, and anything else she could think of to extract every bit of joy from those abundant lemons. As she was nearing the end of her lemon supply, Nana thought, “how can I keep these lemons even longer?” Aha! Nana decided to put some seeds from one of her last lemons in a dish of water to see if they would sprout. After all, she thought, if life gives you lemons, plant a lemon tree! Well, after a few days, those seeds did indeed sprout. Nana took those seedlings and put them in dirt and watched as they grew into little plants. Over several years, those plants grew into small trees that she would take outside during the warm Ozark summers and move them back inside during the Missouri winters, that California lemon trees would surely not know how to survive.
For about 17 years, Nana went through this same routine of moving the plants inside and outside until the trees got so big, she could no longer move them. They became permanent in-house residents. It’s a good thing she has vaulted ceilings, because they grew to over 12 feet tall! Over the years, during visits from family, Nana’s son-in-laws would tease her about her beautiful trees that produced exactly zero lemons! But still, Nana patiently waited, watered, and pruned her prized trees. Finally, one beautiful Spring day, a couple of perfect lemons started forming on the branches. Then more. And they grew, and ripened, and became perfect, yellow lemons that she picked when ripe, and again made lemonade and lemon meringue pie. But this isn’t where the story ends!
Once again, after sharing delicious recipes with her family, Nana gave the seeds from her most recent lemon harvest to us, her kids, to put in some water for sprouting. And sprout they did. Here’s a picture of our lemon tree in 2020, in Rockwall, Texas. This tree is the product of a sprout from a seed of a lemon that came from it’s parent tree in Missouri, which was the sprout of a beautiful, perfect yellow lemon picked fresh from a California lemon tree 22 years ago. Now that boggles my mind!
I was thinking about this phenomenon the other day, when reading “Chasing Vines” by Beth Moore. Many people would think that this is a great story and all, but why not just go to the store and just buy a few lemons, for goodness’ sake! Yes, that’s true, but then there wouldn’t be a story to tell. And what about the joy of the journey? Beth says this in Chasing Vines:
I believe that God feels the same about us. Have you ever wondered why God goes to the trouble of sanctifying us? He could instantly zap us into his image the moment we decide to follow Jesus, or He could transport us into heaven the moment of our conversion. Why would he opt for taking us through the long, drawn-out process of planting, watering, pruning, and harvesting? But sure enough, He rolls up His sleeves, puts palms to the dirt, and begins putting the pieces of our lives together in a way that matters. I think it’s because He’s not looking for a store-bought tomato (or a lemon in this case). He wants the real thing, raised by His own hands, hard won as it is.
To a gardener, grown is overrated. It’s growing it that makes the fruit sweet.
So, to my mother-in-law Sue Purdon (aka Nana), I say thank you for teaching me that when life gives you lemons, grow a lemon tree! The joy is worth the journey.
Lysm,
Sara