Psalms 34:1 "I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth."

In Budapest, a man goes to the Rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?" The Rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man is incredulous, but the Rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week."

A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the Rabbi. "The goat is filthy." The Rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week."

The man returns to the Rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat — only the nine of us."

This is a funny story but how many of us know how to be truly thankful for what we have or in the face of trial? Many strong Christians who have had a deep faith (those who preceded us) realized the importance of mastering thankfulness. Today, we have so many more material blessings than the generation before us.  Are we thankful?

We have an opportunity to practice being thankful! Look around – how has the Lord blessed you? Even if we’re struggling today, let’s practice praising God in thankfulness for all the good things He's done! He deserves all of our praise regardless of our circumstance! His praise shall continually be in my mouth! Indeed…