Something like Lemonade

Have you caught the new NBC drama “This is Us?” I missed the premiere episode of the show, but after catching comments on my FB feed and with friends, I knew that I was missing out on something good. I queued up the first episode and watched it on my I-Pad. I was immediately hooked. This is Us  is a rare story full of hope, humor, heart and even a little mystery.

In the first episode, the couple expecting triplets lose one of the babies during birth. The doctor and the dad have a heart to heart as the doctor shares how his wife and him also lost a child which led him to becoming a doctor. The doctor says something along the lines of “I like to think of it as taking lemons and making something like lemonade out of it.”

Isn’t that exactly what God calls us to do? To make beauty out of brokenness, to make something like lemonade out of the lemons in our lives? Several of my friends have experienced sad losses this year. My friend Julia and her husband Zach had to bury their daughter Kaia Gene. Julia has shared pieces of their story on her blog. My friend Erin and her husband Scott also had to bury their son #AlexanderScott. Erin has been processing and sharing their story through writing on her blog. They also had bracelets made to share about Alexander. I requested one and am waiting for mine to arrive. My friends are making something like lemonade out of their stories.

They will forever be shaped by their stories and experiences. And we all have been shaped by our own stories of brokenness. I think of my friend EG, her husband GG and their sweet little prince who they lost too soon. E shared that, in the midst of her pain, she just wanted another mom who understood what she was going through and who she could talk too. I think many of us long for others who understand in the midst of our own stories of brokenness. I didn’t tell my families story of mental illness for 18 years because of the stigma associated with the illness and because I didn’t think anyone would understand.

We need others who understand who we are, where we come from and the gift of sharing our stories. In our shared stories, hope emerges and unites us as a community of faith; a community of faith that walks together and becomes the Word made flesh as we sit with each other, as we wipe each other’s tears, as we listen to each other and as we love each other in the midst of our brokenness.

So as the Word made flesh, as brothers and sisters in Christ, God’s Word is made alive in this world through our words, actions and most especially through our love for one another. And it is in those moments of the Word made flesh that resurrection hope breaks through into this broken world.

12 thoughts on “Something like Lemonade

  1. Beautifully written Tara! I love your heart for those who have suffered losses and I am so GR8TFUL that you got to tell your families' story even after 18 years. God uses that pain for a purpose and one purpose is to be able to relate to others in their pain and to love them as only you can. God bless you sweet sister!

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