Wednesdays Word.....Thorn

I've been sitting on this "word" thorn for a few weeks now but I just haven't been able to tie it all together in a nice neat coherent package as things usually just randomly bounce around inside my head until it drives me crazy and I have to force myself to display it here hoping I can regain my normal train of thoughts.

A few weeks ago we had a speaker at church (thanks Rose) who mentioned Paul and his thorn so I quickly started emailing myself some random thoughts on the subject of the thorn so I wouldn't lose them. When I had enough basic points I handed my phone to my oldest son to see what he thought. 1st thing he said was "you didn't use proper punctuation". He's lucky we were in church but for good or for bad that is my son's "thorn". He's a perfectionist. At times this is a blessing but in some circumstances it is a detriment.

We all have that thorn and unfortunately it's usually the thing we tend to focus on the most which can lead us to overlooking all the blessings we have; some of which maybe a direct result of our thorn.
We learn in 2 Corinthians 12:7 that Paul had a thorn that kept him humble but he believed it kept him from being an even greater messenger of God. We don't know the specifics other than it was brought on by Satan himself like Job and it could have been physical along the lines of poor eyesight, speech impediment or something like Parkinson's that gave him the shakes or something mental like an overwhelming temptation. And being that Paul was the author of the majority of the New Testament the physical problems would have made it difficult for him to write or even dictate to a scribe the Words he'd been given. These things could have hindered him in speaking to people making him appear weak and unworthy but we all know the weak will lead the strong.

That being said we are a society that praises other people's abilities and natural gifts but when it comes to ourselves we tend to focus on the negatives and our weaknesses. Is this our thorn being so negatively focused that we overlook the entire picture. Just like the thorn on a rose bush is part of a greater beauty that we don't focus on until we are wounded by it; our own thorn can lead to greater things. But far too often it becomes our defense mechanism; our quiet place...the thing we hide behind and use as our excuse and our crutch. We instead need to seek refuge in the peace that is found with in the grace of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is then that we can finally step back & refocus and see the good that becomes of our weakness; the bloom that comes from our thorn.

My thorns are too many to list here but I do know they are small in comparison to the greater good that has come from them as I've been able to look back and see how they are all intertwined with in the plans that God has for me.