Dear Friends,
I understand by the mails that I have received that there is some trouble
faced among the netters at Joynet. I have recently subscribed to this net and
what i feel is that God sometimes allows situations and persons of these kinds
to teach us few things. We need to be thankful to God for persons and
situations like these who may like thorns and wait for God's plan to be
fulfilled. God does things in his own time (I hope you all remember this Hymn
- In His time) and what we need to do is pray and wait patiently for the Lord
to act. I am not very good in explaining my point of view that's why I make
use of Parables to make it more clear.
Love & Prayers
Jennifer Fernandes
Mumbai
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Be Thankful For The Thorns
Sandra felt as low as the heels of her Birkenstocks as she pushed
against a November gust and the florist shop door. Her life had been easy,
like 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 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. "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 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.
"Uh," stammered Sandra, "that lady just left with, uh ... she just left
with no flowers!"
"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 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, had just spent 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 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 have 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 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?"
"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 your roses, thank Him for your thorns. When the going
gets tough, the tough seek the Lord!
Regards
Jennifer Fernandes
Executive Secretary
DishnetDSL Limited
Mumbai
655 2789 - 92
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