SWEET AND SOUR

DAY 170: Like most young kids, our children had their first entrepreneurial experience by opening a lemonade stand. My daughter was the first to get the idea and she quickly talked one of her brothers, Bailey, into joining the venture, along with a neighbor boy.  She also tried to recruit her oldest brother, Chase, but he thought all the work in the middle of a hot Texas summer sounded like a sour idea. Instead, he opted for his life of leisure in the air conditioning.

The three younger kids made a plan to open their "business" every day for a week, making a list of everything they wanted to sell.  It didn't take long for them to realized they needed someone to help with the supplies.  Hannah gave me the sales pitch. “Mom, we have an idea you’re going to love.  You know how you say you want us to find things to do besides T.V. and Nintendo?  We found it. We want to have a lemonade stand.”

By now my two kids are schmoozing me with physical affection, holding my hands and hugging my waist, as the pitch continued.. “Me and Bailey and Trent are going to run it and split the money we make.  All we need are some brownies to sell with the lemonade.  Oh, and we need the lemonade.  And some cups.  And napkins. Will you help us?”

It was obvious that their new venture was going to cost me money.  But I’m a pretty shrewd business person, too.  I knew my investment would buy me a quiet house while they were working and a good lesson in hard work and economics for my kids.

“That’s a great idea,’ I agreed.  “But you have to bake the brownies, make the lemonade and set up and tear down the stand every day.  You will need to keep good record so get a notepad to record your profits from each day. I’ll give you $1.50 in change to start with, but you have to repay me that money, so record the loan in your journal.” 

When their signs were made, the brownies baked and the lemonade mixed, they headed out the door to set up on the corner. "You are doing a lot of work for nothing," their older brother called after them. They were not deterred even though at first several cars passed by without stopping, despite the fact that Bailey held out his hand like a traffic cop and yelled, “You have to stop for little kids selling brownies!” 

Standing in 95-degree heat with no shade they were committed to their stand.  To get things started, I called a few neighbors and invited them to stop by the lemonade stand. Before long they had real customers. Neighbors, young and old, were stopping for lemonade and brownies, and some even tipped our enthusiastic kids.  After an hour and a half, they had earned $13 selling twenty-five cent brownies and drinks.  They immediately began planning for the next day. 

“Me and my mom will make brownies and lemonade tomorrow,” Trent promised. 

“Okay, I’ll record our profits from today,” Hannah said.

“I’ll eat this left over brownie so it won’t go bad,” Bailey offered. 

Everyone was doing their part. The next day was just as successful.  Two hours of hot work yielded $12.80 minus the $1they paid to hire a friend to assist them. They kept up their momentum on day three and four, baking in the mornings and selling in the afternoons. On the last day my husband agreed to let them set up their stand at his office.  In anticipation of a big crowd, they doubled their supply, offering two kinds of cookies and two kinds of drinks, and they sold out in just 45 minutes. It was a huge success! 

In fact, the whole venture was a success, earning them about $70 during the week.  To celebrate their hard work, we took a trip to the ice cream store for banana splits. Their older brother, who had refused to help and sneered at their efforts, was not invited to the celebration - a fact he found very sour indeed. As we headed out the door, I heard him tell his dad, “Man, I should have helped." Chase may be the only person who managed to make lemons out of lemonade.

As I read today's Bible passages, it was like a flashback of our lemonade story. If you change my hard working kids to the Israelites who helped build the wall in the book of Nehemiah, and you change their lazy brother to those who refused to be part of the rebuilding effort, you basically have today's story. 

In this last section of Nehemiah, a huge celebration is taking place.  So much hard work had been done by so many to rebuild the city, the Temple of God and the walls of Jerusalem.  It was hard and dangerous work. Some days they had to build with bricks in one hand and their sword in another. Everyone who was willing made a valuable and sacrificial contribution.  But not everyone was willing.  There were those who refused to help, from scoffers to enemies.  They chose to mock the work and in some cases even tried to derail the work. In the end, however, the work was complete; the massive walls again encircled a renewed city.  It was time to celebrate. 

^{Nehemiah 12:27} For the dedication of the new wall of Jerusalem, the Levites throughout the land were asked to come to Jerusalem to assist in the ceremonies. They were to take part in the joyous occasion with their songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps, and lyres. . . 

³¹ I (Nehemiah) led the leaders of Judah to the top of the wall and organized two large choirs to give thanks. One of the choirs proceeded southward along the top of the wall. . . ³⁸ The second choir giving thanks went northward around the other way to meet them. . . ⁴⁰ The two choirs that were giving thanks then proceeded to the Temple of God, where they took their places. So did I, together with the group of leaders who were with me. ⁴¹ We went together with the trumpet-playing priests . . . ² and the singers. . .  They played and sang loudly under the direction of Jezrahiah the choir director.
⁴³ Many sacrifices were offered on that joyous day, for God had given the people cause for great joy. The women and children also participated in the celebration, and the joy of the people of Jerusalem could be heard far away.

I can just picture the scene: a huge parade starting from two ends of the wall and meeting in the middle led by two huge choirs that could be heard far and wide.  Every person who had been part of the great work was singing and dancing and shouting with joy and thanksgiving for what had been accomplished.  And then there were those who had not shared in the work.  Can you imagine what it must have felt like to see and hear this great celebration to which they had no right to participate?  Did they feel like Chase who had said, "I should have helped." Were they ashamed that they had done no work? Were they sad that they had no reason to rejoice? What became a joyful noise to all those who had been part of the rebuilding was a sour note to those who had refused to help.

I know this to be true because I have been in their shoes. I have "opted out" of an opportunity to be part of something God was doing only later to regret it when the work was done and the time for thanks arrived. It is a sour note indeed. Making a commitment almost always involves counting the cost before you say yes to service; but it is short-sighted not to also look ahead to the joy of being part of that service and the privilege of offering thanks to God when the work is done. 

 When the celebration comes it will be sweet indeed 
for those who take part in the hard sour work of the labor.
 
 

Nehemiah 12:27-47
Nehemiah 13
1 Corinthians 11:1-16
Psalm 35:1-16
Proverbs 21:17-18