I bless your spiritual eyes
To see the gifts
Hidden in the hard times
So that your soul will still
Have gratitude in the gray.

Think of Jesus on the eve
Of His suffering and crucifixion.
See Him in the upper room
Having dinner with His friends.

Around that table is a future betrayer
And a future, three-fold denier.
In the span of a coming day,
The Savior will be falsely accused,
Paraded before a sham court in a bogus trial,
Spat upon,
Laughed at,
Scourged,
Whipped nearly to death,
And nailed to a Roman cross
That would take His life by suffocation.

And see Jesus, on the eve of all that,
Taking the bread,
“And when He had given thanks,” (Luke 22:19)
He broke it and gave it….

The soon to suffer was giving thanks!
No impending pain could keep Him from being thankful.
May God give you the same grace –
A thankful heart, no matter what.
Gratitude, even in the gray.