Lemons and Opportunities

Inconvenience.
What a hassle, what a nuisance. 
What a negative thing to occur.

But what if we look at inconvenience differently?

Opportunity.
A chance to grow, a chance to learn.

Just as life can throw us lemons,
and we complain and groan.
When really all we need to do is use the lemons
and supplies we already have
and then the lemons aren't that bad.

We can add some lemon to our drinks
throw in some sugar, too.
And the sour, inconvenient lemons become our favorite treat.

We can add some eggs and sugar, 
top it with meringue.
Or we can add some flour, eggs, and sugar,
and ice it with a glaze.
Then the sour, inconvenient lemons become pie or a cake.

So it's all about perspective, you see.
When life throws us inconvenient lemons,
the lemons are not all that we have. 
We have tools in life to take those inconvenient lemons
and make something delightful instead.
What an opportunity!


This was a poem that came from a gooseberry of thoughts going on in my mind.  I was teaching a riding lesson to my newest student, and some other boarders were riding in the arena at the same time.  One of them has a horse who was feelin' his oats, and their presence was very overwhelming to me as I attempted to help this little girl navigate the arena without putting herself or others in danger.  Part of me wanted to be so angry at this big, sour, rotten lemon that was commandeering our space, but I had to do some reflection and shut that mindset down for the good of that student.  For several reasons, it was a good learning opportunity.  It's incredibly important, for one, that she learn to ride with other horses in the arena that are not involved with her lesson.  When learning to drive, you have to learn to drive with others on the road, and the same rule applies with horseback riding.  Secondly, this little girl has already said she thinks she's figured out horseback riding and knows everything.  Well, that is most certainly not the case.  If you can color a coloring page with crayons, do you know everything about art?  No...so you watch artists, you study it, you grow in your artistic abilities.  This little one can walk the horse around, can get the horse to trot for a few strides at a time, and is confident and brave, but there are so many buttons involved in riding.  This inconvenient lesson intruder was a great chance for my little student to see just how much more she needs to learn.  The horse was going a little crazy, and the rider was handling him well, collecting him and driving him forward (because he certainly wanted to go UP instead of forward), and using all the buttons she could to keep him under control.  My little student was able to watch this and realize that 4 lessons does not nearly equate to an expert rider.  So...that inconvenient lemon became a nice glass of lemonade for our lesson.

This was just one example that caused my mind to form the above poem.  What is a big fat lemon in your life that you can make lemonade - or even better, a lemon meringue pie - out of?  It might take some digging, but I bet you've got enough sugar, butter, and eggs to make an opportunity out of an inconvenience.


Love, Lynwood

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