Thankful for the Thorns

As Thursday approaches, I'm finding it harder to feel a sense of Thanksgiving. Instead, I'm feeling sadness. This week marks the two year anniversary of my father's death, and Thanksgiving last year was the last time I saw my Aunt Paul, who I also lost to cancer.

And then I read this story. It doesn't fix it. I still feel sad. But now I am thankful. I am thankful for the time I had to spend with these people that I love, and I am thankful for the influence they had on me.

So today I am thankful for the thorns.
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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 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 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 .

Today I am thankful for lazy Sundays and a week of rest! I know I work a lot of hours during the week, but teachers really do have a great schedule with all of the breaks in the year. Looking forward to spending this week with friends and family and preparing for BLACK FRIDAY!

Well, I had every intention of logging on every day and blogging about Thanksgiving. And I failed. I haven't been updating, but I have been thinking. So today I'm going to quickly catch up and list my 16 things for the days I missed.

1. My younger brother and sister and the fantastic relationship we have as adults
2. My sweet dog, Quincy
3. Being able to pay my bills each month
4. Food in the pantry
5. Friends that I can call at 3:00 in the morning to talk about anything
6. Co-workers whose company I enjoy both in and out of school
7. Christmas decorations and the smell of evergreen
8. My voice coming back!
9. My electric blanket
10. Living near my mom and sister and seeing them regularly
11. Changing leaves
12. The internet
13. Photographs
14. A great weekend in Auburn, even if my Dawgs couldn't pull out a win :(
15. Books and being chosen to give children the gift of knowing how to read
16. Gingerbread lattes (especially when they're buy 1 get 1 free!)

Now that I have this week off(!!!!), I should be able to handle the rest of my own challenge. :)

Taco "Soup"

I am the pickiest eater (read: my eating habits are similar to those of a 5 year old), but this is one fall recipe that I LOVE. I adapted it from a friend's recipe to make it more "LA Friendly" (read: removed gross ingredients like canned tomatoes) and I prepare it often during the cold-weather months. It's cheap, delish, and SO easy to prepare. Here's my recipe -

1 package ground beef - cooked (I season mine with taco seasoning and (shhh!) ketchup!)
2 cans yellow corn - half drained
2 cans black beans - half drained
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 packet taco seasoning


Combine ingredients in crock pot or large soup pot. Simmer 1 1/2 - 2 hours.



Top with Fritos and shredded cheese and enjoy!

The Great Gatsby

Today I need to remind myself that I am thankful for this little thing...





I think you've met Gatsby before, but she is my first child.

When I was a little girl, all I wanted was a cat. Why? I honestly have no idea. Every year a kitten was the first thing on my Christmas list, and every year I found a stuffed animal under the tree. My mom is just not a cat person. Eventually I gave up and stopped asking.

My junior year of college I was living in an apartment with some friends. One day we were eating dinner and started talking about how sad a home is without a pet. "I'll get a cat!" I said. They thought that sounded like a great idea, my mom thought it was the worst news she'd ever heard, and the next day we went kitten "shopping". Many of the local pet stores had rescue kittens available for adoption, and the first store we went to had a cage containing three tiny kittens inside. Two were sitting primly on the top shelves in the cage, and one was sprawled out on her back IN the litter box at the bottom.

I knew that she was the one, and she's been with me ever since. :)

This post is to remind me that she is a source of joy in my life, even if that's not true at this very moment. Gatsby had surgery this week, costing me over $500 and requiring around the clock attention to make sure she doesn't remove her e-collar (AGAIN. That girl is quite the escape artist.). While this is not even close to being convenient for my wallet or my social life, it's worth it.

One day I will have an actual child, not just the four-legged kind, and I will laugh about this post, but right now my animals are my children and I am thankful for the joy they bring!

Exhausted

After a long work day, leading a drama club rehearsal, attending a city hall meeting and cooking dinner, all I can think about right now is sleep. So today I am thankful for my big bed and my electric blanket inside of my warm house, which I no longer have to share with a roommate. Life is good.

Sweet dreams!

These are just five of the twenty-three people I'm thankful for today.



Today was a teacher work day, and, guess what? I missed these guys! It's not fun to be at school without the kids. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, I'm almost always exhausted, and sometimes I wonder if I can really do this for the next thirty years. And then one of these kids smiles at me. Or holds my hand. Or tells me that they love me. Or discovers they can do something they thought they never could. And I'm no longer overwhelmed, no longer tired, and completely sure that this is the job I was born to do.

I am a teacher. For those faces right there. (I wish you could see them because they're so stinkin' cute :))) And I am so thankful for each of those little smiles, missing teeth and all.

I don't think I could start my experiment in thanksgiving any other way. What is beyond thankful? That is what I feel for my mom. She is my best friend, my rock, my sounding board, my teacher, my role model. I know that not everyone is blessed with a mom like mine - I see these mothers every year in my parent-teacher conferences. There have been many times that I have hung up the phone with a parent in my class and immediately dialed my mom to thank her for the kind of parent she was, and is. I am thankful for the way she mothered me, and I am thankful for having her as an example when I am one day a mother myself. I love you, Pammy, and I am thankful for YOU!

I'm Thankful

I cannot believe that today we began the month of November. Where has this year gone? I really feel like it has flown by. Last year I was counting down the days until Christmas break, but this year I'm willing time to slow down a little bit. I'm not ready for the holidays!

I've decided to give myself a challenge for the month of November. Every day I'm going to write about something I'm thankful for. I know we all sit around the table on the fourth Thursday of this month and talk about how we're thankful for our health and our families, but I think that this gratitude challenge will be a positive one for me. What better way to get ready for the holidays than to remind yourself of all you have to be thankful for?

Anyone want to join me?