When Life Gives You Lemons…

How’s that old saying go, “When life gives you lemons, decorate your house with them”?

Well, ok, maybe it’s not exactly worded that way, but it’s close, right? *wink, wink*

Lemony decor just seemed like a nice intro to summer vibe to bring into the house. I’ll go into that a bit further later on in this post, but for now, let’s venture on into the dining room.

There’s always a weird decor lull from the time I pull down all the springtime Easter stuff and wait to put up red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. I felt a bit stumped on how to decorate this space, and ultimately pulled together this look by shopping around my house for items I already had.

Hues of yellow, green, blue and coral are perfect for early summertime.

I’m a fan of lemon flavored anything. But of course, what’s more summery than a refreshing glass of lemonade? My kids even attempted a lemonade stand out front of our house the first week of summer vacation, but only managed to pull in $3. With as hot as it’s been lately – 90’s in early June – I’m surprised they didn’t make more!

Mason jars make for a nice, cool iced lemonade and an easy peasy lemon squeezey tea towel – found at Target Dollar Spot – is the perfect compliment.

This cute little lemon print is from Hobby Lobby and the faux lemons are from Ikea.

The pretty summery plates are from the Pioneer Woman line at Walmart.

Sometimes, I think you can pull together a look with unexpected pieces you already have that you might not have thought of before. Aside from home decor, this also applies to life in general.

For the last few years now, my husband and I have been actively trying to find our “forever farm.” We’re super particular and have a very specific property in mind, which has proven very hard to come by in the area we currently reside. We’ve come close a couple of times, but offers fell through, inspections failed or for whatever reason, it just wasn’t meant to be. It’s been a frustrating and confusing journey to see our dreams not panning out as planned.

But over the last year especially, God has been hard at work shifting both my mind and my heart in this situation. He has been reminding me over and over again of all the good intentions He has for my life, even if they may be radically different from what I initially hoped for.

In Christ, there can be no darkness, only light. So, therefore, even in the darkest spots and disappointments of life, He’s still right there beside me, present in all my moments.

His way is perfect.

His way is better than anything I could have ever planned.

And sometimes, He asks us to relinquish things we had planned or dreamed, and instead be open to His ways instead of our own.

Recently, my husband and I made a pretty big decision to put those dreams of finding our forever farm on hold for the time being. We feel God has us right where we are for a reason, even if we don’t clearly see it right now.

It’s been a hard decision to swallow, especially for my husband, whose dream of having his own farm someday is still very much alive. But, instead of giving up on this dream entirely, we’re looking at it differently. God is asking us to simply put it up on a shelf for a little while, and we’ll keep praying about when the timing might be right to take it back down again.

By letting go, we’re choosing to trust that God’s plan is better than our plan right now.

We’re choosing to make lemonade out of lemons.

Living in joyful dependence of God is not only refreshing, but richly satisfying, more than any glass of ice cold lemonade you’ll ever have the pleasure of drinking.

In making this choice, I feel so much peace and contentment. And sometimes contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.

Keep the Faith, my friends, in all circumstances! And Happy Summer!