The Blessing
Of Thorns
Sandra felt as low
as the heels of her shoes as she pushed against a November gust and the florist
shop door. Her life had been easy, like a spring breeze. Then in the 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. As if that weren't enough, her husband's
company threatened a transfer. Then her sister, whose annual holiday visit she
coveted, called saying she could not come.
What's worse,
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. "She
has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a shudder.
"Thanksgiving?
Thankful for what?" she wondered aloud. For a careless driver whose truck
was hardly scratched when he rear- ended her? For an airbag that saved her life but took that of her child?
"Good
afternoon, can I help you?"
The shop clerk's
approach startled her.
"I....I need an
arrangement, "stammered Sandra. "For Thanksgiving?
Do you want
beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer
favorite I call the Thanksgiving Special?" asked the shop clerk. "I'm convinced that flowers tell
stories," she continued. Are you looking for something that conveys
'gratitude' this Thanksgiving?
"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 shop clerk said,
"I have the perfect arrangement for you."
Then the door's
small bell rang, and the shop clerk said, "Hi Barbara...let me get your
order." She politely excused herself and walked toward a small workroom,
then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and
long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the
ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped...there were no flowers.
"Want this in a
box?" asked the clerk.
Sandra watched for
the customer's response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no
flowers!?! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed. "Yes,
please," Barbara replied with an appreciative smile.
"You'd think
after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its
significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again," she said as
she gently tapped her chest.
"Uhh," stammered Sandra, "that lady just left
with, uhh... she just left with no flowers!"
"Right...I cut
off the flowers. That's the Special... I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns
Bouquet.
"Oh, come on,
you can't tell me someone is willing to pay for that?" exclaimed Sandra.
"Barbara came
into the shop three years ago feeling very 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 was into drugs, and she was facing major surgery."
"That same year
I had lost my husband, "continued the clerk," and 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 great a debt to allow any travel.
"So what did
you do?" asked Sandra. "I learned to be thankful for thorns,"
answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for good things in
life and never thought to ask Him why those good things happened to me, but
when bad stuff hit, did I ever ask! It took time for me to learn that dark
times are important.
I always enjoyed the
'flowers' of 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 the very thing 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.
"Hey,
Phil!" shouted the clerk to the balding, rotund man.
"My wife sent
me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement ..twelve
thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a
tissue-wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.
"Those are for
your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind me asking why
she wants something that looks like that?
"No...I'm glad
you asked," Phil replied. "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 slogged through problem after problem. He rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the
clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she learned
from "thorny" times, and 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
"problem" and give thanks to Him for what that 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 thorns make
roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble
than at any other time. Remember, 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 resentment. "I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please,"
she managed to choke out.
"I hoped you
would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a
minute."
"Thank you.
What do I owe you?" asked Sandra.
"Nothing."
said the clerk.
"Nothing
but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's
arrangement is always on me. "The clerk smiled and handed a card to
Sandra.
"I'll attach
this card to your arrangement, but maybe you'd like to read it first."
It read:
"Dear 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 closer to you
along
the path of pain.
Show me that,
through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look
much
more brilliant."
~Author Unknown~
