Thanking God for Lice & Fleas

The cliché question around the dinner table (other than the uncomfortable political one that your uncle never stops bringing up) is:

“What are you thankful for?”

A simple enough question, but not always easy to answer.

Sure, we can give simple and surface-level answers of family, friends, a roof over our heads, and food in our bellies. We can give religious answers of thankfulness to God and His provision in our lives.

But, what if we were thankful for things that aren’t so easy to be thankful for? What if we were thankful for the hard and messy things of life?

Here’s a quick story from Corrie ten Boom and how she literally lived out 1 Thessalonians 5:18:

“Give thanks in all circumstances.”

Corrie and her sister, Betsy, endured unimaginable cruelty during their time in a German concentration camp. They were imprisoned for harboring Jews in their home. The horrible conditions led to their barracks to become particularly infested with fleas and lice. Undeterred, when Betsy read the above passage from 1 Thessalonians, she even thanked God for the fleas. Corrie was mortified at such a notion:

The fleas! This was too much. “Betsie, there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.”

“Give thanks in all circumstances,” she quoted. “It doesn’t say, ‘in pleasant circumstances.’
Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.”

And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.

Little did they know, God was supernaturally even using lice and fleas for their good. The barracks was so infested that even the guards feared to enter this barracks. So, the women of this barracks were able to hold quiet services and bible studies uninterrupted.

My sister, Katie, and I also have a vivid experience of our own with lice. While serving orphans in the outskirts of Lima, Peru, we came into contact with many orphans covered in lice. At first, we were overwhelmed by the grossness of the situation and literally found ways to keep those orphans at arm’s length. But, our insightful leaders challenged us and wondered if we could understand the situation from God’s point of view.

“What if getting lice was a badge of honor, courage and solidarity? What if coming home with this little critters meant we loved and hugged people that the rest of the world had seemed to forget?”

So, Katie and I came home with lice. Several shampoo treatments of our hair washed away the lice, but not the memories. Hugging and holding those sweet orphan children is an experience I will never forget. I can now thank God for the lice, because they were the cost of admission, a price I would pay gladly again.

It’s this kind of paradoxical approach to life that is at the heart of “hug your cactus.” Assumed in the name is a willingness to embrace the painful, messy, and difficult parts of life as a blessing, as an opportunity for growth in gratitude and humility.  

So, what’s your story about giving thanks for something as gross and weird as fleas and lice? What’s something odd that God is bringing to mind that you’d be willing to give thanks for?