Rev. Ray and Pat Amos
2 Corinthians 12:7-9
DEVOTION FOR TODAY, September 15, 2020
“I was given a thorn in my flesh … Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you…”
Almost daily we hear a knock at the parsonage door. When we answer a neighbor will be standing there with a single rose from his bush. I do not think that there is a day during rose season that Pat’s little vase has not held a bloom of neighborly kindness. Like many of us he must have been raised hearing the expression, “I want to give roses while a person can smell them.”
A rose will bloom among many thorns, yet none of those sharp prickles take anything from its beauty or fragrance. We can learn a lot from the beauty of nature if we will pay attention. The Bible teaches us what is obvious, and that is that we are not exempt from thorns in our flesh; and with the thorns come grace.
It has taken a while, but I think I understand the lesson of our neighbor’s rose. I tend to concentrate on the thorns of daily life; you know: the unkind word, the complaint, the worried mind, or the latest problem. A rose bush has many more thorns than blooms, but we plant them anyway because the blooms give aroma and beauty to life.
We have all been scratched by thorns as we gathered their flowers; even then we were comforted by the smiles and compliments of those who enjoyed the beautiful flowers. Perhaps that is one of the ways that grace works. The Apostle Paul had a thorn in his flesh, and he prayed three times for it to be taken away. Sometimes we must continue with the thorns, and we can when there is a rose of grace.
That rose, the most beautiful of all, died with thorns around his brow. This Gospel song says the rest:
“Words cannot describe its beauty as upon the stem it grows
Matchless in its glory, the tender little rose
When its petals are broken, its greatest beauty it shows
For sweeter the fragrance of the broken Rose.
The most beautiful Rose was broken one day
Nailed to a tree on a hill far away
Forsaken by His friends, bruised by His foes
How sweet is the fragrance of heaven’s sweet Rose.”
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
“Link to YouTube Video – The Broken Rose”
