Happy Thanksgiving!  Today, many of us are going to enjoy turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie.  We will enjoy the fellowship of family and friends.  And hopefully, we will begin at the heart of the matter of what it is all about.  We will thank God for his blessings in our lives.  What will you thank Him for?  I am going to guess you will thank Him for his grace through Jesus.  Your faith.  Your family.  Your friends.  Your home.  Your job.  Your school.  Your health.  Your wealth.  Your country.  The beauties of his creation.  The wonderful weather.  Your promotion.  All the good fortune that has come to your family this past year…

But how many of you are going to thank God for that cold you are suffering with right now?  How many of you are going to thank Him for that traffic ticket you got last week?  That broken arm you got?  That sleepless night you had with a crying baby?  That argument you had with your wife?  That job you lost?  That time you were robbed?  That headache you are struggling with now?  That promotion you didn’t get?   That chunk of money you lost?  That serious prognosis the doctor gave you?  That thing you wanted but couldn’t afford?  That family hardship plaguing you?  That loved one who passed away this last year?  How many of you are going to thank God for that?  How many of you are going to thank God for these things?

Thank God for getting the shaft?  Shouldn’t we say: “Thanks for Nothing!”?

A woman named Sandra was feeling awful one October as she pushed open the door of the florist shop.  Her life had been going great, but then in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a minor automobile accident stole that from her.  During this Thanksgiving week, she would have delivered a son.  She grieved over her loss.  As if that wasn’t enough, her husband’s company threatened a transfer.  Then her sister, whose Thanksgiving visit she was really looking forward to, called to say she couldn’t come for the holiday.

Finally, Sandra’s friend infuriated her by suggesting grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer.  She had 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 startled her.  “I need an arrangement,” Sandra stammered.  “For Thanksgiving?  Do you want beautiful but ordinary?  Or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favourite I call the ‘Thanksgiving Special’?”  asked the shop clerk. “I’m convinced flowers tell stories.  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, but was surprised when the shop clerk said, “I have the perfect arrangement for you.”

Just then the shop door’s small bell rang, and the shop clerk said, “Hi Barbara, let me get your order.”  She excused herself and went into the back, and then reappeared with an arrangement of greenery, bows, and long-stemmed thorny roses.  Except, the ends of the rose stems were snipped off.  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 the laughter, but neither woman laughed.  “Yes, please,” Barbara replied with a 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 tapped her heart.  And she left with her order.

“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.”  “Come on, you can’t tell me someone is willing to pay for that!” exclaimed Sandra.  “Barbara came into my shop 3 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, I spent the holidays alone.  I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and couldn’t afford to travel.”  “So, what did you do?” asked Sandra.  “I learned to be thankful for my thorns,” answered the clerk.  “I’ve always thanked God for the good things in my life and never questioned when those happened to me.  But when the bad stuff hit, did I ever ask questions!  It took time for me to learn that dark times are important.  I’ve 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 that very thing her friend had tried to tell her.  “I’m not sure I want comfort.  I’ve lost a baby and I’m angry with God.”

Just then, someone else walked into the shop.  “Hey, Phil!” shouted the clerk to the balding, rotund man.  “My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving Special…12 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 40 years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord’s grace and guidance, we slogged through problem after problem.  God 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 the 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, “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 troubles 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 the grip on her 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, through my tears, the colour of your rainbow looks much more brilliant.”

The Apostle Paul learned this lesson.  He encountered a “thorn” in his life, a thorn in his side that made life painful and unbearable.  He pleaded with God to take this thorn away.  But God’s answer was “no.”  What Paul didn’t understand at the time, but God knew, was that Paul was in danger of becoming conceited – too stuck on himself.  God sent him this thorn to humble him and keep him from that temptation.  God allowed him to be afflicted physically, so that he would keep strong spiritually!  Paul really could be thankful for that thorn!  And he was…

He later wrote the words of our text: “Be joyful always; pray continually; Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  Give thanks in ALL circumstances!  There are times when we pray to God to give us a certain blessing in life, but we end up getting nothing!  Do you ever feel like saying, “Thanks for nothing!”?  But friends, listen carefully.  That nothing God gives us is far better than the something we were praying for!  His answer is always for our good!  God knows best!  And it is our souls He cares for most!  So thank Him for the nothing!  Praise Him for your roses, but thank Him for the thorns!

Why?  Because in the difficulty of the thorns we experience, we discover the sufficiency of the grace God gives us.  We discover how amazing God is!  In our trials, we turn to God!  As we depend on Him, we discover that his strength is stronger than our strength!  And sometimes it takes our thorns to force us to depend on his strength!  So let’s thank Him, most of all, for our thorns!  When you ask for something and God gives you nothing, thank Him for nothing!

Let’s thank God for thorns, and thank Him for nothing!  You see, some time ago on a hill outside a city, the Son of God made Himself nothing.  He humbled Himself by giving up everything and making Himself nothing, so that you and I could have everything!  Thank Him for nothing!  And then He allowed some minimum wage soldiers to push a whole crown-full of thorns into his flesh and pound some iron thorns through his hands in order to pay the heavy price for all of our failure.  He felt those thorns that we should have felt so we would never have to.  Thank Him for those thorns!  As far as the punishment of being separated from God, the Son of God went through everything so that we would have to go through nothing!  Thank God for nothing!   Amen.