A Puzzle

   One of my favorite holidays, perhaps my favorite one, is Thanksgiving.

   Maybe because it is a family Day. What better way to celebrate and be Thankful than to be around those that you love and partake of the Day together?

   Fun, Fellowship, Food and Football....those are listed as the four blessings of the Day for many people, and I am thankful for all of those, and what they represent.

   I woke up this morning and lay in the comfortable bed, under warm covers, and reflected on the many things that I have to be thankful for, and I am. So many people do not have a bed, or covers, or heat, or so many of the things that most Americans take for granted. Just flip the switch and open the fridge and you have heat and food and water, and not the worries about all the items that you need and don't have.

   I realize that it can be hard to be truly thankful, really truly thankful, way down deep in the soul, when you can't remember not having all these comforts. How can you know unless you have been without? I think maybe that I can't.

   But then I have to ask the question: Why me? Why us? What did I do to deserve all of these?

   A lot of those questions are unanwerable. They are like the puzzle that we are putting together this week. I know they must all fit together somehow, all 1,000 of them, but right now we don't even have the outside framework together so we can fill in the blanks. We've got a lot of partial parts of the picture done, and we even have the picture on the box to let us know where they go, but there are still a lot of supporting pieces to fit in.

   Sure I know that I will enjoy this Day. There is a turkey in the oven. There will be family around the table. We may even get the puzzle put together,  but there is still the challenge of the questions.

   I know to whom thanks are due. God Himself has blessed me in many ways because of His Love and Grace and Mercy, and I am thankful, but I still can't wonder about the whys and what fors.

   Those to whom much has been given, much is required.

   Micah 6:8 states:

   "He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

   Reading this, I have to wonder how all of these things play out in my life. How do they fit into the puzzle of my life.

   It is cold outside, but the sun shines brightly. The house is warm and filled with good smells and laughter. I am blessed, and I know it, but the puzzles wait.

   Thankfulness is an important start, but it is just a start.