Everybody loves a rose, will you be thankful for the thorns?

Nature and all of creation is constantly speaking to me about the character of God.  A lot of times I walk through life and completely miss out on the amazing works of art we can find in creation and I miss out on letting the Lord speak to me about the little things, like a thorn on a rosebush.

As I pulled a single thorn off of the rose bush and held it in my hand, I felt God's eagerness to speak to me about it.  Right away I was reminded of lyrics to a song that say,

"Everybody loves a rose, will you be thankful for the thorns?"

The past month many thorns have pricked me and my first reaction was "Lord, why? I don't understand...why is my heart in so much pain? I'm tired of going through trials, why can't life just be easy for a while?" 

 

As I asked the Lord to speak to me about this thorn and the importance of thorns in my life, I was wrecked with revelation of His love for me and how protecting He is of my heart.  The first revelation that really hit home was so simple: Thorns protect the plant. Often times we go though obstacles in life when we are being pricked and it's hard and painful, but God revealed to me that I should be thankful for the thorns, because in the end they protect me and help me fight off whatever is trying to attack or hurt me.  The thorns protect the most beautiful part of the plant, the flower.  The thorns allow the flower time to grow and bloom into what God intended it to be.  Same with life, when we experience problems, that doesn't mean our growing process just stops, although a lot of times Satan tries to tell us that if we have issues we can't grow into the person God intended us to be. That is a lie.  Through trials is when our faith is tested and that is when our true personality comes out, that's when we are challenged to really walk out our faith.

The thorn also reminded me of the "crown of thorns" and the suffering and trials Jesus endured for US!  He looked at those thorns and knew what God called Him to do was hard and the agonizing pain he was going to have to endure, but He knew who He was doing it for, He knew how much WE were worth it.  I believe as each thorn tore His skin He thought of the thorns we were going to have to face in our lives. He knew by wearing His crown of thorns He was giving us hope and setting us free in our times of being pricked by the thorns of this life.