When Life Gives You Lemons...

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"  I love this saying so much that I recently had a little lemonade party to celebrate it.  (Notice the cute little lemon jello slices taken from a previous post on Jello Slices.)   

But most of all, I have been thinking about that catchy little phrase.  I recently read an article about optimism and the author made the point that optimists are not just "positive-thinkers" but proactive doers.  What sets apart optimists from pessimists are their can-do attitude.  It isn't so much that optimists always believe the future to be rosy.  But when faced with adversity, they have faith that they can conquer the challenge and they go ahead and take action.  Pessimists will look at a problem and often not do anything about it because they don't believe anything they can do will help to solve it.            

Hebrews 11 is like a hall of fame for those people in the Bible who had great faith. The interesting thing is that it describes each person as doing something by faith.  They didn't just believe and wait for things to happen.  By faith, they acted.  By faith, Abel offered a sacrifice to God.  By faith, Noah built an ark.  By faith, Abraham left his home and went into another country.  They all acted in faith. 

Sometimes life challenges us in such a way that we have to act even if we don't feel like it.  Most of the time, if we can proactively work towards a solution, we will begin to feel better.  Passivity, on the other hand, neither produces results nor positive feelings.  Sometimes passivity can even be a sign that we don't trust that God will take care of us.  So the next time life gives you lemons, decide to put your faith in God and face your fears head on.  Then make some lemonade and throw yourself a party! 

Represent God's Grace

If you took a survey among non-Christians and asked them what they did not like about Christians, I'd venture to say that among the top answers would be, "Christians are ungracious."  Words like "judgmental" or "hypocritical" might also come to mind, but the idea remains the same.  A good number of non-Christians are turned off to Christianity mainly because of their experience with Christians.  Let's admit it.  We haven't always done a very good job representing God to people who don't know Him.   

The primary word to describe how God treats us is "grace."  God has lavished his grace upon us in such a way that we should be reflections of grace and gratitude.  And as Christians, we should be giving away grace in bucketl oads at a time.  But I've found that grace, while easy to receive, can be very hard to give away. 

Customer service jobs are one in which grace is part of the actual nature of the position.  The motto, "The customer is always right" doesn't mean that the customer truly is always right, but that the customer is treated in a way which dignifies his concerns and fully addressed them in a way that he walks away from his experience a more loyal customer than he had been before.   

In my experience working in a customer service department of a company, I have learned that showing grace sometimes goes against every fiber of my natural makeup.  For one thing, the only time a customer contacts a company is to express a complaint.   Rarely will a customer ever email or call just to thank a company or tell them what a great job they did.  They are usually calling with a problem and let's face it, they are usually angry. 

I once had a customer who was absolutely livid at what ended up amounting to $0.36 (which he had been charged by a third party company, no less.)  Thirty-six cents!  You can't even buy a postage stamp for $0.36!  Of course, we ended up reimbursing him and then some, but he still was not satisfied.  You can't please everyone all of the time, and then there are just some people who you can't please at all (but that is another topic for another time).    But the point of my interaction with the customer was that although I wanted to tell him he was completely overblowing the situation over a mere $0.36, I had to remain gracious and even apologetic.  I had to do so because I wasn't representing myself, but the company I worked for.  I was the only human interaction he had with the company and as such, I was responsible for how he ultimately viewed his experience with the company. 

II Corinthians 5:30 says, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."  We are the primary means by which God makes his appeal to other human beings.  We represent God's grace and mercy to the world.  So let's live in such a way that the world will recognize Jesus in us.

Dining and Living Alfresco

I love dining outside in the summertime.  There is something about being outdoors that heightens the experience of even a simple meal.  The fresh air, cool breeze in the evening... it all makes me feel like I've gone on vacation in my own backyard. 

There are scientific reasons why spending time outdoors is beneficial to our emotional health.  Our bodies were created to need natural sunlight.  Vitamin D from the sun is essential for our brains to maintain adequate serum levels, which affect our emotional wellbeing.

Previous generations spent much more time outside. People worked on farms, in fields, and as hunters and gatherers.  , in communities with other people.  Our modern society has in great part retreated from nature.  The average American today spends 95% of his time indoors.  Experts suggest we spend 25% less time outdoors that we did only 25 years ago.  We are confined to inside offices and stay cloistered in our homes, having little connection with nature as well as other human beings.  Research has shown that taking a walk outside can be as effective in treating mild depression as antidepressants.  Interestingly enough, walking indoors did not have the same results in groups studied.  

So, make an effort to spend some more time outdoors this summer.  Pack a picnic and find outdoor activities that the whole family can enjoy.  Enjoy the beauty of God's creation!   

The beautiful outdoor setting pictured here is from Martha Stewart Weddings.

Watermelon Jello Slices

Continuing with the theme of keeping cool this summer, I discovered some great ideas online.  Look at these adorable Jello slices.  You can do this with Lemons, Limes or Oranges.   Here are the basic instructions. 

1.  Cut your fruit in half and carve out the inside so that you just have a shell.

2.  Prepare your flavored jello according to the instructions on the package AND add a packet of unflavored gelatin to make the jello firmer. 

3.  Pour the jello into the halved fruit and cool in the refrigerator.

4.   Once the jello is set, then you can cut them into slices.

You can use lemon jello for lemon slices, orange for orange slices and lime for lime.  Or use watermelon jello with limes for a whimsical dessert.  Decorate with edible "seeds" (candy, herbs, etc.)  A lot of people have used this idea for making shots, but you can just use water or juice in the jello mixture for a kid-friendly summertime treat. 

Visit The Family Kitchen to see the recipe for the beautiful Watermelon Jello Shooters pictured here. 

Summer Slushies

The long hot days of summer are upon us, and I am always trying to find ways to keep the kids cool!  We have been eating our fair share of popsicles and italian ice, but have also started making our own fruit slushies. 

Our family seems to have an unending supply of fruit that is just about to become overripe, so I have found that making slushies and shakes are the perfect way to use up that fruit.  It is also a great way to sneak extra servings of fresh fruit into picky eaters.  All it takes is a good blender, some ice and a few spoonfuls of sugar.  We have made delicious slushies using peaches, watermelon and strawberries.   For milkshakes, you just need to add some milk or a few scoops of vanilla ice cream. 

To make the beautiful Watermelon milkshakes pictured above, visit Foodess for an easy, delicious recipe.

High Tea for Alice

When it comes to entertaining, presentation is equally, if not more, important than food itself. Table settings and decor set the mood for parties and can transform even store bought food into something beautiful. I have always been fond of vintage china and glassware. They are both elegant and beautiful without being overly formal.

I recently discovered a lovely Etsy boutique appropriately named "High Tea for Alice" that takes lovely European china plates and teacups and turns them into tiered dessert stands. Can you just imagine serving little tea cakes and sandwiches on something like this? They carefully select each unique plate and coordinate them with others to make a brand new set. The results are simply delightful. They come in a variety of colors and styles, and also take custom orders.

Visit High Tea for Alice for "exquisitely indulgent, remarkably heirloom, extravagantly refined, decoratively sublime & cheerfully divine stands to fill and feather your own personal wonderland."

Keeping Childhood Alive

Recently, I was having a conversation with some fellow moms when the topic of extra-curricular activities came up. We were a varied group of mothers, with kids in public, private and homeschool. But although we lead quite different lives, we discovered that we all had something in common. Each family was involved in a minimum of three extracurricular activities, be it music, sports, dance, church activities, and the like. One family was involved in a whopping 8 extracurriculars! The funny thing was that none of us could remember being involved in that many activities when we were children. I had piano lessons as a child, and a few gymnastics lessons but I certainly don't remember my parents orchestrating their lives around a multitude of extra-curricular activities.

I left the conversation wondering, "Is childhood becoming an endangered species?" Children today are much busier than children just one generation ago. They are faced with an overwhelming amount of information and choices. Just think of all the options our children have when they walk through a toy store. Not so long ago, the same toys were kept on store shelves for years. Now, toys are retired almost as quickly as new ones are released. And while today's toys are more complex than toys of the past, they seem to require far less imagination.

It is a brave new world in which our children are growing up. I'm not one to glamorize the past, but I fear that we have lost some of the wonder of childhood. The pace of childhood today is so much quicker than it was in the past. Childhood is supposed to provide time and space for wonder and imagination. It is supposed to be time for catching caterpillars and making mud pies.

Though our kids have rooms full of toys, have they become less able to entertain themselves? Have we begun to view childhood only as a preparation for adulthood? Are we enrolling them in all sorts of extra-curriculars in hopes of giving them an edge on their peers? Has parenting become a competitive sport?

I'm not suggesting that we shut down all extra-curricular activities and throw out all modern toys. The truth is that there are conflicting voices on the ramifications of having children in a multitude of activities. Some have suggested that children can actually thrive in several activities, while others caution of the long-term effects or over-scheduling children. I'm not sure there will be clear-cut answers that fit each family and child. But, like a growing number of others, I am beginning to question some of the conventions of modern childhood.

We all want the best for our children. We want them to have all of the opportunities that perhaps we did not have as children. But somewhere along the line, let's make sure we aren't shortchanging them of childhood itself. When that brief time is over, it isn't something they will be able to find again... ever. So let them have days where they do nothing but explore the backyard or idle away hours constructing things out of paper and tape. Let them sword fight and play dress up. Let them be chldren for as long as they can.