I never cease to be amazed at people and how they react to good news. I remember watching television game shows with my grandmother when I was a child. Her favorite was the game show where the contestants had to guess the price of something, and if they were lucky enough to guess close enough to the actual price, they would win the item as their prize. Some of the contestants would run to the mike almost breathlessly, while others would just briskly walk. If they won the item, some contestants would laugh while others would cry tears of joy.

And I'll bet they couldn't wait to tell someone about it. That's what we do when something wonderful happens to us. We just can't wait to share the good news. How many times have we prayed for something and when God answers the prayer, we either can't believe it or we just forget to thank God first before we tell others? Or do we forget to give God the credit when we talk to others about our miraculous answer to prayer?

In the Psalm for this week, the psalmist has his priorities right. He says, "Give thanks to the Lord" and then "proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done." Our first response to answered prayer should be to give our thanks to God for all that God has done, and then to tell others about God's greatness. In fact, this should be our response to daily life because each day that we have to share life with others is a blessing from God.

For what do you need to thank God today?

Jan McCoy is associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Covington. She may be reached at jan.mccoy@ngumc.net.