A tiny drop of blood formed on my right index finger as I let the branch snap back into place. What does blood have to do with lemons? I’m a journalist. If it bleeds, it leads.
The kids have vacation this week. Vacation might generally imply a time of rest, relaxation, fun and excitement, but the Hogar kids began theirs with a punishment. They had to clear a huge portion of field between the Hogar and the school, with machetes, by hand.
On Monday, Laurel [the latest volunteer at the Hogar and friend from Southern] and I decided to make lemonade to take to the kids working outside. Unfortunately one does not simply open a cupboard and take out a mix here. Due to the unlucky circumstance that there were no lemons in the kitchen, we were forced to walk down to the school to see if there were any on the trees there. Let me clarify that the lemons on these trees are large and in charge. Not only are they obnoxiously big, the branches are thorny. Of course all of the ripe lemons were near the top of the tree. Laurel was able to knock a few down with rocks and I picked a few by hand, which is how I cut myself. By the time we decided we’d gotten all we could, we were sweaty, tired and defeated. We gathered our meager harvest into a box and began trudging back up the hill to the Hogar. I lamented to Laurel that I was afraid we wouldn’t have enough lemons. Half-jokingly I told her it would be awesome if we had a loaves and fishes experience. I kid you not, but two second later, Nelson, who was standing in front of Txus’ [one of the staff who lives between the school and the Hogar], house talking with someone, stopped us. He looked at our box and then reached down and picked up two bags full of small lemons. I told him we were going to make lemonade for the kids, but he just nodded and kept on talking like he'd known all along.
I know it wasn’t a coincidence. I know God had those lemons waiting for us. We were able to make more than enough lemonade. We squeezed the juice by hand and I mixed it with water, sugar and orange juice. It tasted really good and the kids were so happy for a treat later that afternoon.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
2 comments:
That is a radical story. And a radical lead. Wow, so incredibly clever. I read it over and over.
I've been wanting to leave a comment on this blog for the past couple weeks. It is so awesome how God works, and how He cares about the small things...
That was a really good day, and even though it was tiring throwing rocks at those lemons... it was rewarding to see the kids enjoying a refreshing drink after hard labor.
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