gratitude

Only 12 fishes and 5 loaves of bread for hundreds.

Lack.

A dead friend, grieving women at the tomb of Lazarus.

Sorrow.

A last supper portion of bread and wine as a final good-bye strength for those you love.

Farewell.

Thorns to tear the delicate flesh of the face and neck, thick nails to crush and sear, weight, too heavy to bear.

Pain.

All preceded by thanksgiving.  Not after, when all turned out well, but before when all looked darkest.  

Jesus gave thanks ... and then. 

Gratitude precedes the miracle - salvation.

My camera was the lens to record God's gifts, great and small.  My keyboard became the pen to offer thanks for my days.  But the inner lens became clouded, unable to take in light.  "When your eye is clear, your whole body is filled with light."  The beautiful world that still existed went unseen, unappreciated.  

Therefore, the list of 1000 gifts. 

4.  Sun warming my shoulders.

10.  White capped mountains against a blue sky.

20.  Diamond drops of life causing laughter.

24.  Broadway on the lawn.

28.  Chalk that fills a concrete square.

My camera and fingers will open the lens again and like Adam, I will name.  And in naming my blessings, I create.