Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | My Dad, who was a minister for 74 years, told the following story.

“When I became pastor of my first church in Canada, I noticed that virtually every man wore a hat. So I decided that if I wanted to be a respectable member of Canadian society I should purchase a hat—and I did, a beautiful light tan fedora.

“But after about two years, my hat became terribly dirty, and I began to pray for the money to get it cleaned. In a week or so, somehow I managed to get seventy- five cents all together in one place, and took my hat to be cleaned.

“The next Monday night I wore my hat to church for what we called a fellowship service. This one was special, and I hated to bring the service to a close, but finally I made my way toward home.

“I was praising the Lord as I walked along–when all of a sudden, the most cantankerous wind came along and lifted my beautiful clean hat off my head and deposited it in a mud puddle. Why should such a thing happen to me when I had just scraped and saved to get it cleaned!

“And while the resentment was welling up, my blessing was leaking out. As I stooped to pick up my hat, I fully expected to see the under side completely muddy. But as I turned that hat over, to my amazement there was just one little mark. I flicked it off with my finger and it was gone.

“I said, “Why, you dirty old devil. You almost robbed me of a great blessing over absolutely nothing.” I put my hat on my head and walked home with joy.”

And then he added, “Whatever you do, do not allow some petty annoyance to rob you of the sweetness of God’s blessing in your life.”

As Paul said, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will” (1 Thess. 5:18).