Thorns

“Therefore to keep me from being conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh..”  11 Corinthians 12:7

Thorns represent sin, sorrow and hardship, but  the crown of thorns used on Jesus was also a brutal instrument that caused much agony.

Life’s little thorns can sometimes end up being lessons in disguise.  Last week, Randy noticed that water was pouring out of the meter in the yard between us and our neighbor, but more on the neighbor’s side.    We called the water department, as I was secretly thanking God that it wasn’t our yard!  Long story short, it turned out that the leak was between our houses, so they ended up digging up all my 30 year old juniper to get to the leak.

As I was moving the left over juniper brambles, a thorn or thistle lodged in my hand, and I immediately thought how sometimes everything goes wrong.  A thorn in the flesh can hit us with the chance to enjoy a good dose of self pity.

Thorns together with roses are said to represent pain and pleasure.  The thorn is an emblem of Christ’s passion, but it is defined as “anything troublesome”.  The latter statement helps put it in perspective for me.  Jesus wore an entire crown of thorns to demonstrate how much he loves us.

It’s easy when things are going well to thank God from whom all blessings flow, but when thorns crop up among the beauty of our lives, that’s another matter.  I read recently a quote by George Matheson which reads, “God, I have never thanked You for my thorns.  I have thanked you a million times for my roses, but not once for my thorns.”  It’s the thorns in life which make us value the the roses all the more.

We fall to our knees during thorny times, and it is during these times that we learn to value the thorns in our life.  It takes the thorns to push us into the corner of surrender where we totally rely on God for the sufficiency we need to get through our difficult situation and realize these are necessary conditions for blessings.  Thorns can be evidence of God working in our lives.  Sometimes it’s through tears that rainbows are seen.

The water leak is fixed, new juniper plants are planted, and the thorn is removed.  Sometimes God just needs to get our attention so we remember to be thankful for the thorns.

Christ wore that crown of thorns to the top of a hill called Calvary and there died to take away all our sins.