so, i recently finished a book my mom gave me written by a woman named corrie ten boom (the hiding place, totally good!)  i was totally intrigued first by her last name.  ten boom.  it sounds like she should be starting a fashion line or recording her new single.  but i digress.  corrie ten boom lived in holland during world war 2.  she and her family hid jews in their home over their watch shop, and corrie coordinated anti-nazi activities in her town once the germans invaded.  during the war, she and her sister ended up in a prison in holland and then a german concentration camp.  their father died in german custody.

while in the camp, corrie’s sister, betsie, reminds corrie that they need to be grateful in all situations.   not only the good ones, but in all situations.  she reminds her of 1 thessalonians 5.  she reminds her of this when they are first moving into their overcrowded prison bunks in the german camp filled with fleas.  at the time, corrie tells her sister that she will try to be grateful.  but she will NOT be thankful for the fleas.   later in the story, betsie gets really sick.  she starts to be part of the knitting team that works out of the dormitory where they live.  for some reason, while they are working, the guards leave this group alone.  so betsie, whose a fast knitter, can finish her daily quota and then spend her afternoons helping those around her or resting.  one day, the knitters want to ask the guards a question, and the guards won’t come in.  they realize that the guards won’t come in because of the fleas.  the FLEAS are the reason that betsie has had all peace in this horrible place.  betsie tells her sister corrie this story with an implied “SEE!!”

i started to think about being grateful.  to note: i do not live in an overcrowded concentration camp.  i am not surrounded by fleas.  in fact, i have a good amount of personal space and very few bugs in my way at all times.  i am not busily knitting socks for soldiers who have been sent to kill my family.  the only socks i encounter are the ones which will soon sit on tiny little feet that i adore.  the only torturous situations i encounter involve 15 preschool girls in a very tiny room dressed in dance costumes.  but still i am aware of how i am very rarely grateful for even the good things.  occasionally, i can be grateful for the shining day.  even less often am i grateful for my umbrella when it rains outside.  (this is totally theoretical because i NEVER have an umbrella).  i am certainly not grateful for the rain.  much less really unpleasant things like fleas, metaphorically speaking.

i started to think about a fight that i have long been fighting.  how most days i curse it.  or begrudge having it.  or wish my life, on this issue, was like someone else’s.  on my best day, i am grateful for all the joy DESPITE it.  but i am never thankful to fight it.  never grateful to have been thrown into this ring.  but i started to think about all this fight has given me.  all the insight it has provided.   all the opportunities for growth it has afforded.  and even if it hadn’t, that God works all things for good.  that something good will result because of this.  i thought about how i should be at least a bit thankful for the fleas.

that is not to say that i wouldn’t IN A MINUTE be done with the battle.  that i will not pray, fight, work, slave, etc. to win this war.  that i would not buy EVERY SINGLE CAN of flea spray to rid my house of them.  but in the meantime, while these things surround, i think i need to remember to be grateful they are here.  to see what it has provided.  because if i can be grateful even for the worst of things, i can certainly be grateful for all the good ones.

this is truly an impossible task.  but it’s worth the striving.   agreed?