What a Lemon Tree Taught Me About Money
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 6:55AM 
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.
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Reader Comments (11)
I cannot begin to describe how timely this is for me. :-) !!!! Thank you so much for this post. I'll be back here often with the intention of soothing and strengthening my $$$$ experience. Here's to going green! ;)
Sara
Love this! Sara's Facebook like is what led me here. Thank you Meadow for telling this story. It was fascinating to notice how stressed I was at the beginning when your lemon tree kept making lemons. I was really afraid there was something wrong and the tree would die. Fabulous insight into my own beliefs about abundance (lemons, dollars, euros, etc). Thank you so much!!
Wow! That's a lot of lemons. I'm not sure I fully understand your point? Act like we'll always have money or believe in the power of positive lemon thinking? Can you clarify if you've time?
Hey Brent -
Point in a nutshell: people tell themselves scary stories about money. And these scary (scarcity) stories feel bad.
When we deliberately change the story that we tell about money - and tell a more abundant story - we feel better.
It's our choice.
With my lemon tree- I told the story of scarcity to myself and I reacted as if the lemons were going to run out. As if they were scarce. This was in my head - not reality. Much like money.
Funny I was just having this thought about blueberries. I buy them at costco. I could never eat the whole container before they spoil. Knowing there will always be enough blueberries I take the time to pick out the ones I really want. A little squishy and out they go. No need to eat one that's not awesome when there are so many to choose from. Life really is like that if we could only remember to see it that way.
For a moment i thought it was an actual lemon tree but on further reading i saw the true meaning...... inspiring!
Loved this!
I love this post. Currently I have an obsession of lemon trees and hoping to attempt to grow a little meyer lemon tree in my NYC apartment. I can only hope it can produce an 1/8 of what your little tree does. Anyway, I digress. Thank you for writing this as you put into perspective that hoarding something to enjoy later doesn't always guarantee enjoyment later for a lot unseen reasons....if it's even there later! Thanks!
Oh. Do you have a photo of your little tree that you can post?? I'm curious to see! Thanks.
Hi See - I'm sorry that I missed your comment. I'll take a picture and send it to ya.
Great! Thank you.