People are always sending me, such beautiful stories. I hope you don't mind,me sharing some, with you. Love and hugs,Barbara
Subject: Thorns - in remembrance of Easter<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Thank Him for the Thorns...
Sandra felt as low as the heels of her Birkenstocks when she pulled open the florist shop door,
against an April 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 Easter
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 for 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.
"She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a shudder. "
Easter, Thanksgiving, Holidays? 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 Easter ? Do you want the beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to
challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the "Easter Special"?
I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you looking
for something that conveys gratitude this Easter?"
"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, "Ah, 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 Easter 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 ofGod'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. "Hey, Phil!" the clerk greeted
the balding, rotund man.
"My wife sent me in to get our usual Easter 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, 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 "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.
