Can We be Thankful for the Fleas?

Ephesians 5:20 tells us we are to be thankful in all circumstances. But does that mean we are to be thankful for the fleas? Well, sisters Betsie and Corrie ten Boom were.

In the devotional book, God is My Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom relates how near the end of World War II, when Corrie and her sister Betsie first entered their barracks at the notorious women’s death camp, Ravensbruck where over ninety-six thousand women died, besides the stench of backed up plumbing and rancid bedding, they discovered their new residence was infested with fleas.

As Betsie prayed, she told Corrie they were to be thankful in all circumstances. Even for the fleas.

Corrie agreed to be thankful the two of them were still together.

She agreed to be thankful they were able to smuggle their Bible into the German concentration camp.

However, when Betsie told her to be thankful for the fleas, Corrie drew the line. Surely God did not expect Corrie to be thankful for the fleas that bit her day and night.

Thankful for the Knitting Detail

It wasn’t until Betsie was assigned to a knitting detail with other prisoners in their barracks, that Corrie learned to be thankful for the fleas.

You see, because of the fleas the guards refused to enter the barracks. Without the guards coming in, Betsie was able to read aloud to the women in the knitting group from their forbidden Bible.

Not only did the fleas allow Betsie to read the Bible to those around her, it also protected the women in the barracks from being assaulted by the male guards.

A Shift in Thankfulness

The fleas were God’s gift.

They were indeed something to be thankful for as Betsie said. Corrie just needed to see them as more than the irritant they were. She needed to shift her perspective to see them as what they truly were. God’s sovereign protection.

Thanksgiving is a time set aside to be grateful to God for his many blessings.

It is a time to consider all the ways God poured out his blessings upon us throughout the year.

It’s Not Always Easy to be Thankful

Thanksgiving reminds us to be thankful for how richly God provides for our needs.

Some days it is easy to find something to be thankful for. The glorious sunrise or sunset. Laughter of a child. Smile of a loved one.

Other days, we might need to search for those blessings amid the turmoil and strife of life.

Who knows? As it was with Corrie ten Boom, the very thing we consider a nuisance or irritant might just prove to be one of our greatest blessings.

We only need to adjust our perspective and be thankful for the fleas.

As we approach this season of thanksgiving, may we be more like Betsie and Corrie ten Boom. May we decide to be thankful for the fleas, however they manifest in our lives. Not just at Thanksgiving, but every day.

What are you most thankful for this season?

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand. Psalm 95:1-7 NLT

I wish you well.

Sandy