When I went to Florida this summer, I would just sit in the ocean and look around me. The waves crashing in on the shore, the seagulls flying in to catch their fish, the beautiful sky around me. I just sat there in perfect silence and amazement, just realizing how amazing God’s creation really is.

I had found joy. I was not doing anything. I was not even moving. But God was in me, and around me and I could feel it.

Why is it, that in today’s society, this feeling of un-denying joy is so hard to come by? People think that they have to work for it or find someone who can make them feel this way. But little do people realize that if you just sit and take the time to reflect on your life and your surroundings, you will have enough joy to last a lifetime.

We are so blessed if we look around us. We live in a country where we have the right to live our life how we want to. We have plenty of food and shelter around us. We are a wealthy country. While I understand how hard it is to get caught up in the problems of this world and our own lives, we need to take a minute and think, what if we didn’t have a tomorrow? What if today is all we have? Would we be happy with sitting here griping about things that we can’t even change? What we can change is how we treat people and how we look at life.

I think a big part of this lack of joy comes from the fact that our lives become so hectic and stressful. We worry about things like speeding tickets, getting an A on that test or making sure people still like us. But that’s the thing. Look at all those examples I just gave. They’re all focused on us. What if we took even five minutes out of our day and focused on someone else? Complimenting their outfit or letting them know how much they mean to us. What if that five minutes turned to 10 the next day, and then 15 the following? It doesn’t need to be some monumental change made in our life. It can be a little change that eventually grows into something bigger. For example, if a boat was to change its direction by just a degree or two, at first it wouldn’t seem like much. But after time, the boat would be heading somewhere completely different than it was before. While it may not seem like a very big change at first, even just the slightest change can put us on a completely different path over time.

Finding joy in the little things not only gives us a better outlook on life, but it can make us much happier people. Happiness is infectious and can spread like wildfire. So why not be the base of that fire?

What would our world look like if it wasn’t so “I” based? What if we were joyful in the small things and grateful for what we do have? Would our world still be so hateful? Would America become an actual “one nation under God”? I think a lot of us would like to know what it would be like to live in a world where the popular opinion is that God is our savior and that true joy comes from Him. Jesus says that through Him there is an abundance of life, a joyful life. That is the life I have found and wouldn’t trade it for anything.