Message summary: In living a life of thankfulness those of us who seek to do the will of God are clearly obeying a Biblical mandate. Let us be thankful even when we get a whiff of skunk smell!

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"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Out here in the country we have a lot of distinct smells. Several times a year we are "blessed" when they apply the organic fertilizer to the fields. We get similar smells when they load the swine to send to market from the large growing house up the road and occasionally from a huge Kreider Farms laying house about ¾ mile to our west.

On the other hand, we also get a very pleasant aroma from a Mount Joy Cocoa and Chocolate Factory 1½ mile away, also Mars Chocolate Plant in nearby E-town. When the aroma fills the air Brooksyne usually comments, "I'm getting my chocolate fix without taking in the calories".

But we also occasionally have the foul odor from a mammal native to North America and South America. *¹ So I am not sure readers from other parts of the world have experienced this. Of course I am writing of the skunk.

Skunks can spray their odor as far as 15 feet. Even more impressive is the that their spray can be smelled up to a mile away! *²

Normally we encounter this odor as road kill, the "dead skunk in the middle of the road". I've really not seen that many live skunks in the wild and when I do it may not have ejected its famous odor.

After a time of fellowship in Mount Joy on Sunday evening we were pulling back into our driveway when suddenly a skunk odor filled our nostrils. We smelled it but didn't see it (as is often the case with skunks).  In fact it permeated the interior of the van and house as well, although it was fainter and didn't last long.  We never did spot the skunk, not that we actually went looking.

Years ago we heard a Brazilian brother who only spoke in Portuguese introduce a song through an English translator. He was recalling how his father-in-law would express appreciation for all of God's creatures. He would go out early in the morning and say "Good morning little skunk." How's that for a positive outlook!

I considered, as I breathed in the aroma on Sunday, how the skunk is an animal created by God and is merely functioning as God designed. The skunk's God-ordained defense mechanism worked very well. This morning the air is brisk and clear and the pungent skunk smell left our place completely.
 
Today, most of us will encounter some skunk smells; probably some of you literally, but many more figuratively. How are we going to deal its unwelcome presence?
 
Our daily verse is very familiar and many of you have memorized it.  You should! Let's look at a single word in the text today. "In..." I note a consistency in all major translations in using this word and feel it's very significant. In this text Paul does not use the word "for." He uses the word "in." I believe he's speaking of living a thankful life; being thankful "in" the midst of pleasant circumstances and "in" the midst of difficult circumstances. 
 
The "everything" of life includes the good reports as well as the bad reports. The worldly outlook of thankfulness includes giving thanks only for what we experience as good. But God's Word says "in everything". After all, as Christians we have an assurance that "God is working all things out for good for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).
 
In living a life of thankfulness those of us who seek to do the will of God are clearly obeying a Biblical mandate. Let us be thankful even when we get a whiff of skunk smell!

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber