Being surrounded with children 24/7 I’m privileged to hear profound statements on an almost ongoing basis. I told my kids last night that I was going to start reading them CAN OF WORMS by Kathy Mackel. If you’re not familiar with the story, Disney made a movie from the book (Kathy wrote the screenplay) and it’s about a guy going through those teenage angst years who sends a message to outer space asking for help. He is beyond surprise when aliens begin to answer his call. I explained a little bit about the story to my boys (I also have a daughter going through the teenage years but she’s not inter
ested, of course) and also that Ms. Mackel had signed the front for me with “The sky is not the limit.” Later on my six year old presented me with a picture that included the aliens, a jar (rather than a can) of worms, and his rendering of the sky pointing to a lemon with a large X over it to which he exclaimed “the sky is not a lemon.” Of course, I thought that was the greatest and I’m still laughing over it.
So I thought I would stretch my imagination and see if I can relate this to writing somehow. Bear with me. First of all, even if the sky was a lemon, I would enjoy that because I happen to love lemons, and I have the pitted teeth to show for it (of course, you can’t really see those pits with the naked eye, thank goodness). So, from here I draw on the old adage “if life gives you lemons, then make lemonade.” To make lemonade you simply add water and sweetener.
I suppose one of the worst things about being a writer is the rejection which could easily represent our lemons. At this point, I should come up with a list of sweeteners but I honestly can’t think of any except the Holy Spirit (the water) and the Word (His precepts are sweeter than the honeycomb). God is here for us even in our time of rejections and even if the sky were a lemon, the Lord could turn it into a time of refreshing.
Blessings!
Beth.