I received the following in a Fwd email and it was just so touching and so true that I wanted to share on here. We often forget to praise God during the storms of life. We need to learn lessons from our trials and pain and remember him in times of good or bad.
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 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
"Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?" she wondered. "For a careless driver whose
truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended me? For an airbag that saved my
life, but took my 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? 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 s nipped: there were no flowers.
"Do you want these in a box?" asked the clerk.. Sandra watched - 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 Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet. 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 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 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?" "Four years ago, my wife and I nearly
divorced," Phil replied. "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.
God Bless all of you. Be thankful for all that the Lord does for you.
"Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and leave the rest to God."
We often try to fix problems with WD-40 and Duct tape. God did it with nails.
