Could You Be Thankful For This?
The first principle of misery is envy…therefore the first principle of happiness is gratitude. This season of Thanksgiving is the perfect time to thank God for all of your blessings, whether they are the pleasant blessings or not.
In the book “The Hiding Place”, Corrie ten-Boom gives an important lesson on being thankful. She and her sister were arrested for helping to hide Jews from the Nazis. Eventually, they ended up in a concentration camp in Germany. They had smuggled a small Bible in with them and read it when they could for comfort and encouragement. Their barracks were infested with fleas and Betsy prayed to God to show them how they could live in such a place.
They had been studying 1st Thessalonians. “Comfort the frightened, help the weak, be patient with everyone, see that none of you repays evil with evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.” Betsy then told Corrie that that was how they could stand to live in such a place; by giving thanks for every single thing about their new barracks. Betsy began counting her blessings. Can you imagine?
She’s in a flea infested building…inside a concentration camp and she’s counting her blessings!
She went on to be thankful for many things…and then Betsy thanked God for the fleas.
Corrie decided that was too much, but Betsy reminded her that the verse says to “give thanks in ALL circumstances” and insisted that this included the fleas that were tormenting them constantly.
Then they found out why it was important to be thankful for the fleas. Their barracks were safer than the other barracks for women. The guards did not come in to molest them, and they were allowed unusual freedom to read their Bible and talk about their religious beliefs inside their barracks because the guards didn’t want fleas.
This year I will remember the fleas, and be thankful for all my blessings.
