recognition of the blessings one has received. Such an attitude is easier to talk about or admire abstractly than it is to practice. “For all things” includes misfortunes as well as obvious blessings. Yet we cannot accuse Paul of glibness or superficiality, for he exemplified this trait most remarkably. He was writing these very words while a prisoner in Rome. He once sang hymns and praised God in a dungeon while his feet were in stocks and his back was lacerated (Acts 16:25). It takes the filling