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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’s door. Her
life had been easy, like a 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 her loss.
As if that wasn’t enough, her husband’s company
threatened a transfer. Then her sister, whose holiday visit she coveted, called
saying that 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.
“Had she lost a child? NO—she has no idea what I’m
feeling.” Sandra shuddered.
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 flower shop
clerk’s approach startled her. “Sorry,” said Jenny, “I just didn’t want you to
think I was ignoring you.”
“I………...I need an arrangement” said Sandra. “For Thanksgiving?” Sandra nodded.
“Do you want ‘beautiful but ordinary’, or would you
like to challenge the day with a customer favorite
I call the ‘Thanksgiving Special’”?
Jenny saw Sandra’s curiosity and continued, “I am
convinced the flowers will tell stories, that each arrangement insinuates a
particular feeling.” “Are you looking for something that conveys gratitude this
Thanksgiving?”
“Not Exactly” Sandra blurted. “Sorry, but in the
last 5 months, everything that could go wrong has.” Sandra regretted her
outburst, but was surprised when Jenny said, “I have the perfect arrangement
for you.”
The door’s small bell suddenly rang. “Barbara,
hi!”, Jenny said. She politely excused herself from
Sandra, and walked toward a small workroom. She quickly reappeared, carrying a
massive arrangement of green bows and long-stemmed thorny roses; only the ends
of the rose stems were neatly snipped, no flowers. “Want this in a box?” Jenny
asked Barbara.
Sandra watched for Barbara’s response. “was this a joke? She thought, who
would want rose stems with no flowers!” She waited for laughter, for
someone to notice the absence of flowers atop the thorny stems, but neither
woman did.
“Yes, please. It’s exquisite!”,
said Barbara. “You’d think after 3 years of getting the special, I’d not be so
moved by it’s significance, but it’s happening again.
My family will love this one! Thanks.”
Sandra stared. “Why so normal a conversation about
so strange an arrangement?” she wondered. “Aaaaaaaa”,
said Sandra pointing. “That lady…………...just left with aaaaaaaa”.
“Yes?” replied Jenny.
“Well,…….she had no
flowers!” blurted Sandra.
“Yep, that’s the special. I call it the
Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet.”
In spite of herself, Sandra chuckled and said “But
why do people pay for that?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“I couldn’t leave this shop without knowing!” “I’d
think about nothing else!”
“That might be good”, said Jenny.
“Well”, she explained, “Barbara came into the shop
3 years ago, feeling very much like you feel today. 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 faced major surgery.”
“Ouch”, said Sandra.
Jenny continued, “That same year, I lost my
husband. I assumed complete responsibility for the shop, and for the first
time, spent the Holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family
nearby, and too great a debt to allow any travel.”
“What did you do?”
“I learned to be thankful for thorns.”
Sandra’s eyebrows lifted as she asked, “Thorns?”
Jenny replied, “I’m a Christian, Sandra. I’ve
always thanked God for good things in life, and I never thought to ask Him why
good things happened to me.” “But when bad stuff hit, did I ever
ask!! It took time to learn that dark times are important.” “I
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
are afflicted, and from His consolation, we learn to comfort others.”
Sandra gasped, “A friend read that passage to me,
and I was furious! I guess the truth is I don’t want comfort. I’ve lost a baby,
and I’m angry with God.” Jenny started to ask Sandra to “go on”, when the
door’s bell diverted their attention.
“Hey Phil!” shouted Jenny, as a balding rotund man
entered the shop. She gently touched Sandra’s arm, and moved to welcome the customer. He tucked her under his side for a warm
hug.
“I’m here for 12 thorny long-stemmed stems!” Phil
laughed heartily. “I figured as much”, said Jenny. “I’ve got them ready.”
She lifted a tissue-wrapped arrangement from the refrigerated cabinet.
“Beautiful”, said Phil. “My wife
will love them!”
Sandra could not resist asking, “These are for your
wife?”
Phil saw that Sandra’s curiosity matched his when
he first heard of the ‘Thorn Bouquet’.
Sandra said, “Do you mind me asking, ‘why
thorns’?’”
“I’m glad you asked” Phil replied. “4 years
ago, my wife and I nearly divorced. After 40 years, we were in a real mess; but
we slogged through, problem...by rotten problem. We rescued our
marriage…...our love really.” “Last year, at Thanksgiving, I stopped in
here for flowers. I must have mentioned surviving a tough process, because
Jenny told me that for a long time, she had kept a vase of rose stems…………….stems !!..........as a reminder of what she learned from
“thorny times”. “That was good enough for me! I took home
stems!” “My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific “thorny”
situation, and give thanks for what the problem taught us.” “I’m pretty
sure this ‘stem review’ is becoming a tradition.”
Phil paid Jenny, and thanked her again, and as he
left, 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 Jenny.
“Well, my experience says, that ‘thorns’ make roses
more precious. We treasure God’s providential care more during trouble than at any
other time.”
“Remember, Sandra…….. Jesus wore a crown of
‘thorns’, so that we might know His love. Do not resent ‘thorns’.”
Tears rolled down Sandra’s cheeks. For the first
time since the accident, she loosened her grip on resentment. “I’ll take
12 long-stemmed thorns, please”.
“I hoped you would,” Jenny said. “I’ll have them
ready in a minute. Then, every time you see them, remember to appreciate both
good and hard times. We grow through both.”
“Thank you, what do I owe you?” asked Sandra.
“Nothing,” “Nothing
but a pledge to work toward healing your heart. The first years’ arrangement is always on
me.” Jenny handed a card to Sandra, saying “I’ll attach a card like this
to your arrangement, but maybe you’d like to read it first.” “Go ahead, read
it.”
My God, I have never thanked Thee for my
‘thorn’! I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never
once for my ‘thorn’. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear. Teach
me the value of my ‘thorns’. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path
of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.