"i give thanks..."

 

 these are what we need to be grateful for...not big screen TV's and new iPads...but for the life which rejuvenates us each day!

As I write this, it is a bitter cold day on the prairie. Highs maybe reaching five degrees above zero with stiff northwest winds making it feel like minus twenty below zero! whew!

Nevertheless, I look at my bird feeder and there they are: blue jays, slate colored juncos, sparrows and an occasional squirrel. They don't need an invitation, they just know that their needs will be cared for here and thus, they come.

How about you? Are your needs cared for? Do you just know where to go to receive nourishment? Jesus instructed us to pray the "Our Father..." "Give us this day our daily bread..." and thus, we are given, not by greed, but by what we need. He told us that He is "the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Thus everything that we need, we ask for in the Name of Jesus.

So why do the scenes of what happens every year on this so called pagan ritual of Black Friday disgust me so? Scenes of people grabbing at anything--the pushing, shoving, hitting, and doing what they can to get...what exactly is it they are trying to get at? Is it food? No...is it water? No...it's usually some "must have in my mind only" gadget...something they want...but I am certain, not needed. At least, not as what I understand need to be. TV sets that are about five feet long...come on...are you so  blind that a smaller set won't do?

Speaking of blind, Jesus also helped the blind to see. I always have understood this to mean not just physical blindness, but also the blindness that affects the soul. The type of blindness that Saul, then called Paul, was healed from. Of finally understanding who and what Jesus was all about. Have you ever had that moment of clarity, when all of a sudden, what once seemed vague suddenly became crystal clear? That moment may have been when you shared of your very self something that is precious to you, be it helping a stranger...of accepting forgiveness from one you'd sworn to have as an enemy until you died...or maybe it is just sharing a hug or a compliment with someone who you may have never met before.

Not to get into the whole politics of it all, but look at the news coming out of Missouri...instead of feeling reviled by the hatred...look instead at how this can be a learning experience. Look not upon someone who isn't just as you are with hate, but rather, with love and forgiveness. Even Jesus did that while hanging on the Cross. "Father...forgive them for they know not what they do!"

This holiday season...no matter in what way you celebrate it, celebrate it with love and peace in your heart. Not just because you are "supposed to," but because it is the right thing to do!

I hope that joy finds you today--and every day!
Amen.