Thank God for fleas?
We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one pays back wrong for wrong, but at all times make it your aim to do good to one another and to all people.
Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus. (verses 14-18)
It is tempting to take this message of Paul’s with a grain of salt. It seems that he is asking too much in encouraging us to be joyful and thankful in every situation.
Corrie Ten Boom thought so as she stared at her flea infested mattress. In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie tells of her and her sister Betsie’s internment for helping Jewish refugees during World War II. On their transfer to another concentration camp with even more appalling living conditions, Betsie reminded Corrie of 1 Thessalonians 5 and thanked God for the fleas. Corrie was sceptical. However, some weeks later Corrie learnt that the prayer meetings with their fellow prisoners had not been discovered primarily because the guards refused to enter the flea-infested dormitory.
In your baptism your life was joined with Christ’s. You have passed from death into life. You can pray for the Spirit’s gifts of joy, thankfulness and service to others-in all circumstances.
Dear Lord, forgive me for so often giving in to my fears and pessimism. Fill me with the gifts of your Spirit so that I may live triumphantly, loving you with all my heart and loving others as myself. Amen.
by Margaret Hunt, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)
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