A few days ago I learned a valuable lesson from a Lemonhead (the candy)! Now I know some of you are thinking, “What in the world?” But I promise you the Lemonhead really taught me something. So here it goes….
Thursday morning, before my 3rd period class came in, one of my former students stopped by to see me. As she came in I noticed she had a bag of different types of old school candy. She offered me a piece and after digging through the bag, I settled on a jumbo Lemonhead. Some of you all know what I’m talking about. If you’ve ever been in a candy house, you definitely know. 
So I anxiously opened the candy and popped it in my mouth. Now I haven’t had a Lemonhead in YEARS. I think I forgot how tart and sour this candy really is! By this time my students were coming in the class and as they spoke to me, all they saw was my face twisted while my lips were tightly puckered and out. My mouth started getting tight, especially that little place behind my ear! (Y’all know what I’m talking about!😂) 
As the student stopped and stared in awe and a little disbelief, one student said, “Ms. Reaves, why don’t you just spit it out?” I honestly contemplated doing just that, but I thought about how much I really liked the sweet part of the Lemonhead. I knew if I held out a little while longer, I was going to get what I really wanted. Besides, I’d endured that sour taste too long not to enjoy the good stuff!
I finally made it to the sweet part of the candy and the biggest smile crossed my face! But what would have happened if I would have spit it out when it wasn’t enjoyable? What would have happened if I would have gave up on my Lemonhead right before I got to the sweet part? This is where God began to deal with me! Life can sometimes be just like a Lemonhead.
Occasionally, life can become sour. Things begin to happen that seem to knock you off of your feet. As soon as you get over one obstacle, another one shows up at your door. You look for a place of comfort and it’s nowhere in sight. You know that if you can just endure this hard place right now, you will soon enjoy the “sweetness” that will eventually come. Now I know that the sour place is hard. It’s almost unbearable. But you have to keep reminding yourself that you have what it takes to hold out. You know how to see it though. You were made to outlast hard times. So my encouragement to you today is to simply hold on! I don’t care how hard it seems to be right now, you got this! Even though it’s sour now, it won’t always be like this. Think about the other sour moments you’ve had before this. Just like you made it through then, what makes you think you won’t make it through now? I promise you, the sweet center is on the way!