~ An OBLIGATION to BE an INDIVIDUAL !! ~

"REMEMBER always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an OBLIGATION to BE one." - E. Roosevelt

*** THORNS ? ! ***

I take pleasure in infirmities, . . . in distresses, for Christ's sake. - 2 Corinthians 12:10

TO give thanks in every situation is sometimes very difficult. When your body is wracked with pain, or you have just learned that you have a physical problem for which there is no cure, or you have lost your job, or a cherished relationship has been broken, it's hard to feel grateful. But we can learn to thank God because He gives us strength when we feel weak.

That's why Paul could say, "I take pleasure in infirmities, . . . in distresses, for Christ's sake" (2 Corinthians 12:10). And as believers, we can be grateful that through such experiences God is accomplishing what is best for us. EVEN through our suffering. He is working for our good (Romans 8:28).

Scottish author and preacher George Matheson (1842-1906), who was blind, expressed this prayer: "I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my 'thorn' . . . . Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my 'thorn.' Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow."

As we surrender ourselves to the Lord and remember that He is working in everything to accomplish our ultimate good, we can thank Him even when we are pierced by "thorns." - Richard De Haan.

We can give thanks in everything
And say, "Your will be done,"
For God's at work in everything
To make us like His Son. - D. De Haan

It's easier to bear the burden of suffering when we carry it with gratitude.

* The Original .. 'VELVETEEN Rabbit' (remember?) !!

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are Real?" said the Rabbit.

And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said.

"That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again"
(from The Original VELVETEEN RABBIT by Margery Williams).

*THIS book may be bought from Dymocks Booksellers (Bookstores).