Are They Really Lemons???
By: Deborah Schroeder
August 25, 2026
You’ve heard this modern proverb: When life throws you lemons, make lemonade. In other words, when circumstances are difficult, disappointing, or unpleasant, try to turn them around into something useful or positive. The exact origin is somewhat uncertain but the earliest widely documented form is generally attributed to Elbert Hubbard, an American writer and publisher, who wrote in 1915:
“He picked up the lemons that Fate had sent him and started a lemon-ade stand.”
Hubbard was writing about the deaf and blind actress Helen Keller, emphasizing her ability to make constructive use of extraordinarily difficult circumstances. The more familiar wording appears to have developed afterwards as a concise proverbial expression. It became increasingly common during the 20th century. 1
Why Lemons and Lemonade?
The metaphor works because lemons are naturally sour and unpleasant to eat while lemonade transforms them into something refreshing and enjoyable by adding sugar and water. A lemon implies something you did not ask for. Lemonade implies something worthwhile made from it. In other words, you cannot always control what happens to you, but you can sometimes control what you do with what happens. The saying is more than “think positively”. At it’s best, it suggests resourcefulness, resilience, and purposeful action.
A failure can become an opportunity to learn.
A disappointment can redirect you towards something better.
A limitation can stimulate creativity.
A difficult experience can eventually enable you to help someone else facing the same thing.
“Making lemonade” means finding what can be done with the situation rather than denying its difficulty. The “lemons” are not necessarily something you choose. The “lemonade” represents the meaning, use, growth, or good that you can deliberately create from those circumstances. Turn adversity into opportunity.
This is all useful information, but let’s also consider this:
ARE THEY REALLY LEMONS?
Hubbard appears to be the first to use the term Lemons to describe bad things that come our way. But it stuck long after Hubbard left the earth. I believe our focus is generally on the last half of the phrase. Making lemonade conveys the idea that we have risen above the adversity. We are overcomers! We pulled ourselves up and turned a negative into a positive. But there’s another paradigm to consider. For the believer, are they really lemons? Consider the following verses from God’s Word:
- Psalm 139: 15-16 (NIV):
15My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. 16All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. - James 1:2-4 (NIV):
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. - Genesis 50:19-20 (NIV):
19But Joseph said to (his brothers), “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives”. - Romans 8:28 (NIV):
We know that all things work together for good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Do negative things happen to Christians? For certain. Do we at times face serious adversity and loss? Do we know what it means to feel pain, rejection, emptiness, discouragement? Yes! But, for the believer there is a difference. According to Psalm 139, God knew how your entire life was going to play out before time began. Everything unfolding in your life has a purpose. According to James 1, God uses adversity to develop our character, to bring us to maturity. In fact, we are urged to consider it a “joy” when we face trials because they bring about character development and maturity. According to Genesis 50, it’s our perspective on adversity that can become skewed. God has a purpose beyond our comprehension. And according to Romans 8, even when tragedy strikes, God takes those things and works them out for good!
Ours is a culture of comfort. Dual control temperature settings, adjustable beds, heated steering wheels, remote control, even massage and heat options in the dental chair! If you don’t believe me, ask yourself: When was the last time NO ONE made a comment on the weather?
Sure is cold today.
I don’t remember the last time it was this humid so early in the season.
Did you get a look at that storm last night?
We barely made it home from vacation due to ice-covered roads!
When we experience a disruption to our comfort, we see it as a lemon. When several unpleasant or unwanted circumstances invade our space, it’s a storm of lemons. And we want it over as quickly as possible. We launch into problem-solving mode primarily to make the lemons go away.
I’ll be honest. I have never gotten up in the morning with this thought: I sure hope today is a real train wreck! If it is, I will be overjoyed! Nope. Not once. But that’s what James exhorts us to do. That kind of joy shifts focus from circumstances to our sovereign Lord. If He has mapped out my entire life, adverse circumstances are part of that design. He will use those circumstances to develop my character and mold me into the person He wants me to be. I no longer have to hear myself say, I cannot wait until this is over so we can all return to normal!
So I’ll ask again: For the believer, are they really lemons? When we finally get to see God’s overall plan in eternity, we will discover there was no lemon.
Consider Job’s words following tremendous loss in his life:
My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Job 42:5 (NIV)
Now Job has seen God with eyes of faith and spiritual understanding. He can, therefore, accept God’s plan for his life (see verse 2) which includes suffering. Again, where’s the lemon in that outcome?
The next time you are tempted to think you’re being hit with lemons, ask this: Lord, don’t let me miss what you are trying to teach me through this trial.
Joni Eareckson Tada
One of my favorite contemporary examples of God working great good out of adversity comes from the life of Joni Eareckson Tada. Joni and I are the same age. In 1967, we were both 17. We were both looking ahead to dreams of how our futures would play out. That summer, Joni dove into the Chesapeake Bay and suffered a severe spinal-cord injury. The accident left her a quadriplegic, unable to use her arms and legs. Suddenly, a vibrant young woman who had expected to live a normal, active life faced permanent paralysis. I was captivated by her story and have followed her life from the time she published her story in her first book titled Joni.
Joni battled the same emotions you and I probably would if we were in her circumstances. She wrestled with suffering that became permanent:
- Why would God allow this?
- Does God still love me?
- What purpose could possibly come from this?
- How can I serve God when so much of what I expected to do has been taken away?
Over time, Joni’s understanding of Christianity changed. She came to believe that her deepest problem was not her paralysis but her understanding of what constituted a meaningful life. Her injury forced her to discover that her worth and usefulness to God were not dependent upon physical independence.
Joni recognized that there were millions of people living with disabilities who were not merely dealing with physical limitations. They were also confronting isolation, discrimination, inaccessible environments, despair, and the feeling that the church had little place for them. Her own suffering had given her an understanding of that world that she could not have acquired merely by studying it.
In 1979, she founded Joni and Friends, an organization devoted to serving people with disabilities and their families and encouraging churches to become more accessible and welcoming. After becoming quadriplegic herself, Joni knew what it was like to need assistance with ordinary tasks.
Joni’s story is not simply “something terrible happened when she was 17, but God enabled her to use what she learned for His purposes”. Christianity teaches that God can redeem suffering without calling the suffering itself good.
- Joni learned dependence on God and others.
- She learned to empathize with other disabled persons.
- She learned perseverance to live faithfully without receiving the physical restoration she initially hoped for.
- She obtained a different understanding of identity. Her body could no longer accomplish many things she once associated with her identity. She learned her identity as a Christian was deeper than physical capability. The foundation of Joni’s identity was built on the person and work of Jesus Christ, His sacrificial payment of her sins, and His promise of eternal life.
- Joni’s experience eventually became the foundation for an international ministry serving people with disabilities.
- The very limitation that seemed to make her less useful became part of the reason she became useful to a particular group of people.
There is an even deeper Christian purpose
Joni’s story can also be understood through the Apostle Paul’s teaching about weakness:
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV) – “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Joni’s testimony is not ultimately “I became strong enough to overcome my disability (lemons).” Rather, it is “I discovered that I cold live a fruitful, God-centered life even though I could not overcome my disability.” Joni didn’t choose paralysis. She didn’t need to pretend that paralysis was desirable. She didn’t call all her suffering good. Instead, she gradually learned to ask a different question:
“Given that this is now part of my life, how can I glorify Christ here?”
That question transformed the trajectory of her life.2
For the believer, are the bad things really lemons? God allows into our lives the things that were ordained before we even came into existence. He will use all of it for good in His sovereign plan for lives.
To God be the glory!
References
1Information on the origin of the modern proverb comes from ChatGBT.
2Information on Joni Eareckson Tada’s life is taken from ChatGBT.
