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Thanksgiving Classic: 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 the fourth month of her second
pregnancy, a "minor" automobile accident stole her joy. This was Thanksgiving week and the time she should have delivered their infant son. She grieved over their loss.
Troubles
had 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
on her long awaited holiday visit. What's worse, Sandra's friend
suggested that Sandra's grief was a God-given path to maturity that
would allow her to empathize with others who suffer.
"Had she
lost a child? She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a
shudder. "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's?"
"Good afternoon, can I help you?" Sandra was startled by the approach of the shop clerk.
"I.... I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra.
"For
Thanksgiving?" Sandra nodded. Do you want the beautiful but ordinary,
or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call
the 'Thanksgiving Special'? 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 clerk said,
"I have the perfect arrangement for you."
Then the bell on the
door rang, and the clerk greeted the new customer, "Hi, Barbara... let
me get your order." She excused herself and walked back to a small
workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery,
bows, and what appeared to be long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the
ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers.
"Do you want these 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.
Sandra stammered, "That lady just left with, uh.... she left with no flowers!"
"That's right, said the clerk. "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 much as you do, today,"
explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful
for. She had just lost her father to cancer; the family business was
failing; her son had gotten into drugs; and she was facing 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."
"So what did you do?" asked Sandra.
"I
learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've
always thanked God for the good things in my life and I NEVER
questioned Him why those GOOD things happened to me, but when the 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 the 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 thought that 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!" the clerk greeted 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 telling me why she wants a bouquet 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 trudged through problem after
problem. The Lord rescued our marriage. Jenny (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 "problem"
and give thanks 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 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 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?"
"Nothing.
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 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 closer 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.
God richly bless you |
