Lemons

They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

They never really tell you, though, what to do when life tries to shove them so far down your throat and up your butt that you’re bleeding internally. No. That far in, it’s all up to whether or not you can still smile and tell yourself that, “You can do this.”

And you can. Believe me.

Because if you choose to lose to a fruit, then you know it’s all over anyway.

Funny thing about being alive. We’re left to deal with our own little hells, ill-prepared and expected to thrive in the fire as we are. We’re survivors. Today, tomorrow, and for the rest of our lives, we’re given chances in adversity to make our darkest moment our greatest feat.

Life, in all its ups and downs, is here to remind us that living is a choice. That we are all still here for a better reason than we can ever imagine. Fire will come, challenges will surge, and an ocean of pure, riveting emotion will hit you square in the face before you can even lie about being prepared. The question is: Will you be able to stand up to it all?

The answer is yes.

Scared and shaken as we are, it has never been more a choice to live the life that we want than our moments in the furnace. We’re burned. We’re stressed. We’re broken down and completely rebuilt into the image of how we choose to handle every trial and tribulation that comes our merry way.

Some, seething in excuses and lies, come out in brittle, black ash that scatters fast into the wind.

And yet some, radiating with will, bloom from the fires behind them like a burnished, raw diamond that learned to fly.

When it all comes down, it all comes down to you. To fight, to love, to trust, to believe in a reason that you’re still conscious, stronger than the punches that know they can’t take you down if you don’t let them.

Smile, man.

Grin and bear, knowing that you can win over anything the world dishes out. Laugh in the fact that you’re unstoppable when you choose to be. Jump into the world with a face that shouts, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

And you squeeze those lemons dry into a cup, saying “I’m still thirsty for more.”