I am Thankful that thorns have roses!!

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 the life of her unborn 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."

Be thankful people are not like dogs--I do LOVE my dog

Well I haven't posted in a while and here I am at work --still-- working at a grain elevator during harvest means long hours. I can't complain because I work less hours here than anyone else employed here during the harvest season.(I am the only part time employee) I have had more then 40 hours in here for over a month, plus I work 2 days at the restaurant. Needless to say I am tired of working 6 days a week. Tomorrow is my day at the Barn and I am looking forward to not arriving at work until 10:30. Working here 8am-7pm is getting old. I know Dave and Brooke are getting tired of hearing me complain too-- So off to more important things.

Our church did an event called Heros Unmasked on October 31. Dave and I were a part of the team that helped to pull this event off. (we were in charge of the games) It was a lot of work, and a lot of fun too. Instead of having simply a fall harvest party. We had Heros from the Bible at our event. (My very special daughter Brooke came as Queen Esther, She did a great job too talking to the kids and telling them her story --read Esther to find it out if you do not know it!!) We also had David, Moses, Elijah, Noah, and of course the ultimate hero JESUS. We had several games, if you use your imagination you could relate to our Bible hero. Like hurling marshmallows at Goliath, playing a game similar to broom ball called Moses red sea sweep. Queen Esthers crown decotating, Guessing the number of animal crackers in a container-- you guessed it Noahs cookie count. I can't forget Elijahs flaming chicken race, as well as the secret of the empty cave- Jesus arose!! Plus many others. We got all of these ideas from GROUP resources. It was a lot of work, but we feel it was also a success. I don't know if any one came to Christ, but one of the leaders received a call from a mom saying her daughter is looking up and reading about the heros in her Bible. (The Heros each handed out a card like a baseball card, with info about them and the scripture on it) We had many kids who came who do not attend church.

I guess Dave and I do miss working with the JYF (Jr Hi) kids after doing it for 12 years, This was a nice way to get involved again, but with my job, it added to the stress involved this time of year.

We are planning on going to see our son Caleb at Hesston College in Kansas over Thanksgiving I am excited.(Moms love to see ther kids!!) Brooke is not going to go with us :-( She is going to be going east instead of west to spend the weekend with a very special young man and his family. I still do not know what we are going to do with Jasmine our boxer while we are gone. Jessica and her husband Jeremy usually keep her for us, they are thinking about going to Washington DC. I asked a young man from church, but now he is thinking about going to Hesston with us!!

With thanksgiving just a couple weeks away I want to leave you with this tidbit.(Someone shared it with me a couple years after Shaun's death) When everything seems to suck and your life seems to make no sense, and you are having a hard time feeling thankful for anything - You can always be thankful that we do not say hello--like dogs do, smelling each others butts!! Thank you God for your wisdom!!