Kirk Franklin – Beautiful Thorns (Live)

The contradiction in the title is what makes it memorable. A thorn is something you try to remove, and beautiful is not what anyone calls their problems. Yet many believers will tell you that their hardest seasons produced their strongest faith. The thorn reference also recalls a well known passage about an unremoved struggle that taught humility, so the phrase is familiar to church people.

Everyday life gives it plenty of examples. The job loss that led to a better business, the heartbreak that taught a hard lesson, the sickness that brought a family closer. None of these are pleasant, but looking back, many people admit they would not be who they are without them. A title like this one asks you to see that honestly.

The live tag suggests a room of people nodding along as they recognise their own stories. I will not claim details about the performance, since I cannot vouch for them.

It is a record for anyone still bleeding from a lesson they have not yet learned to appreciate.

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