Be Thankful For The Thorns

Hi My Friends....with Thanksgiving being next week. I felt it most fitting to post a Thanksgiving story. 
Some of you have read this before or have heard of it.  It is not my story.  It has been around. 
It is a wonderful reminder of the importance of remembering to be grateful and thankful to our Lord for the hard seasons of our lives...not just the rosey times, when it seems easier to give thanks to Him. 
We are to give Him glory, praise and thanks for all things in our lives.  Even for the thorns, that prick us and make our hearts bleed with hurt and sadness. Because our God is the only One who can take our ashes and make them beautiful.

Be Thankful For The Thorns

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes when she pulled open the florist shop door, against a November gust of wind. 
                                        
Her life had been as sweet as a spring breeze and then, in her fourth month of her second pregnancy, a "minor" automobile accident stole her ease.  During this Thanksgiving week she would have delivered a son.  She grieved over her loss. Her troubles multiplied...her husband's company threatened to transfer his job to a new location.  Her sister had called to say that she could not come for her long awaited holiday visit. 
What was worse yet, Sandra's friend infuriated her by suggesting her grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. 
Sandra thought on this with a shudder.  "She has no idea what I'm feeling."  "Thanksgiving?
Thankful for what?"
She wondered...  "For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her?
For an airbag that saved her life, but took her child?"

As she entered the Florist Shop....
"Good afternoon, can I help you?"
The clerk's approach startled her, as she was lost in her thoughts.
"I...........I need an arrangement." Stammered Sandra.
"For Thanksgiving?" Said the clerk.
Sandra nodded.
"Are you looking for something that conveys gratitude this Thanksgiving?"
"I'm convinced that flowers tell stories."
"Not, exactly!" Sandra blurted out.  "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong."

Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised  when the clerk said,
"I have the perfect arrangement for you."

The door's small bell suddenly rang, and the clerk greeted the new customer.
"Hi Barbara, let me get your order."  She politely excused herself and walked back to a small workroom. 

She quickly reappeared carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows and what appeared to be long-stemmed thorny roses. 

Only, the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped; there were no flowers.

Sandra watched for Barbara's response.  Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems and no flowers!

She waited for laughter, for someone to notice the absence of flowers atop the thorny stems, but neither woman laughed.

"Do you want these in a box?" asked the clerk.

"Yes, please." Barbara replied.  "These are exquisite." "You'd think after three years of getting the Special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but it's happening again.  I can feel it right here, all over again." 

She gently tapped her chest.  "My family will love this one."

Sandra stared and then stammered, "Ah......that lady just left with....uh.....she left with no flowers!"

"That's right," said the clerk. "I cut the flowers off.  That's the Special.  I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet."
"But, why do people pay for that?" In spite of herself, she chuckled.
"Do you really want to know?"
"I couldn't leave this shop without knowing."
"Barbara came into the shop three years ago, feeling much like you feel today," explained the clerk.  "She thought she had very little to be thankful for.  She had lost her father to cancer, the family business was failing; her son had gotten into drugs; and she was facing a major surgery."

"That same year, I had lost my husband," continued the clerk.  "For the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone.  I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too much debt to allow any travel."
"What did you do?" Asked Sandra.
"I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly.  "I'm a Christian, Sandra.  I've thanked God for good things in life and I never thought to ask Him why good things happened to me? But, when bad stuff hit, I cried out, Why?  Why me?! It took time for me to learn that the dark times are important to our faith.
I have always enjoyed the flowers of my life, but it took thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort.
You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others."

Sandra sucked in her breath, as she thought about what her friend had tried to tell her. 
"I guess the truth is I don't want comfort.  I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God."

Just then someone else walked in the shop.
She turned her attention to the customer that came in. 

"Hey, Phil!" The clerk shouted to the balding, round man that entered.  She softly touched Sandra's arm and moved to welcome him.  He tucked her under his arm at his side for a warm hug. 
"I'm here for twelve thorny long-stemmed stems!"

"I've got them ready for you." She turned to get them from the refrigerator and handed him a tissue wrapped arrangement.

"Beautiful," said Phil. "My wife will love them."
Sandra could not resist asking.  "These are for your wife?"
"Do you mind telling me why she wants a bouquet that looks like that?"
Phil saw that Sandra's curiosity matched his when he first heard of a Thorn Bouquet.
"Do you mind me asking, "Why thorns?"

"In fact, I'm glad you asked," he said. "four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorced.  After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we trudged through problem after problem, the Lord rescued our marriage.  Last year at Thanksgiving I stopped in here for flowers.  I must have mentioned surviving a tough process because Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she had learned from "thorny" times.  That was good enough for me.  I took home some of those stems.  My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific thorny situation and give thanks for what the problem taught us."        

As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!"

"I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life." Sandra said to the clerk.  "It's all too....fresh."

"Well," the clerk replied carefully, my experience has shown me that the thorns make the roses more precious.  We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. 
Remember that it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. 

             "Don't resent
               the thorns."

Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. 

For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on her resentment.

"I'll take twelve long-stemmed thorns, please."

"I hoped you would," said the clerk gently.  "I'll have them ready in a minute.  Then, every time you see them, remember to appreciate both good and hard times.  We grow through both."

"Thank you. What do I owe you?"

"Nothing.  Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart.
The first year's arrangement is always on me."
"I will attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first."

It read:
"My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns.  I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns.  Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns.  Show me that I have climbed closed to You along the path of pain. 
Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant."   

"Praise Him for the roses; thank Him for the thorns."


The clerk said, "Happy Thanksgiving, Sandra," handing her the Special. "I look forward to our knowing each other better."
Sandra smiled.  She turned, opened the door, and walked toward hope!
Author Unknown


Kim Wenrich
2 Corintihians 5:17
Psalm 139
heaveninmyheart1@yahoo.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gods-Girls-Most-Honorable-and-Beautiful-Among-All-Women/248867505178819