What A Lemon Tree Taught Me About Money
I have an over-achieving lemon tree in my back yard.
It's a small tree. It doesn't take up a lot of space.
But it is serious about lemon production.
It's not like a regular citrus tree with its arms reaching up to the sun. It more like a weeping willow with heavy lemon-laden branches.
There are at least five hundred lemons on it right now. (I didn't count... just go with my story here.)
When I first moved in, it was spring.
I thought lemons were in season.
And I picked tons of them.
And tried to use them all.
And then they rotted on my counter tops.
And the lemon tree kept on making lemons.
Summer came.
Still lemon season.
I ignored the tree.
The lemons fell on the ground and ended up getting mowed into the lawn.
And the rest went to compost.
And the lemon tree kept on making lemons.
Fall came.
And with it came the heat of the Indian Summer.
And hundreds of lemons ripened and fell.
And the lemon tree kept on making lemons.
Christmas came and went.
We made lemonade.
And that tree kept on making yellow ornaments.
The entire first year - I watched it.
Expecting lemon season to stop.
Being worried that I wasn't using them.
Worried that they were going to waste.
Worried that someday I might really need a lemon and that I didn't enjoy the lemons in the right way.
At the right time.
Three years later...
I now know that it's always lemon season in my back yard.
I cook everyday with lemon.
I put it in my water.
I use it for tea.
I have trained myself to use more lemons on purpose.
Every morning I go out an pick lemons.
By the next day. The fruit bowl is empty.
And it's time to pick more.
Four or five a day. Sometimes more.
And still.
My daily lemons don't even make a dent.
My tree still looks a weeping willow.
And there are still lemons all over the ground.
I now love my lemon tree.
I love picking the lemons.
And using the lemons.
And knowing that it's always going to be lemon season.
I love knowing that I always have more lemons than I need.
Even when the recipe might call for 10 or even 20 lemons.
It's not going to wipe out the lemon supply.
It's impossible.
My lemon tree grows them faster than I can keep up.
Which got me to thinking...
Wouldn't it be cool if we could think about money in the same way that I now think about my lemon tree?
We would stop being worried that this is "money season."
We would stop feeling pressured and afraid that we will run out.
We would stop forcing it to grow faster.
Or slower.
We would know that hording it - for fear that there will be a day that we won't have it - makes it rot.
We would know that ignoring it - for fear that we don't have what it takes to be responsible to it - kills our enjoyment of it.
We would know that when we use it - even when we use a lot of it - we don't wipe out the supply.
There will always be more.
What if we had the same faith in money that I have in my lemon tree?
What if we knew that there would always be more than we need?
That the tree will keep on making more than we can use.
Maybe then, we could just relax.
And pick the few we want for today.
Appreciate our beautiful trees.
And know that there will always be more for tomorrow.