I walk down the street to catch the bus and I see several people. I smile and say, "Hello." Some people just look at me, others roll their eyes at me and still others ignore my existence. Now we have all at one point or another been in this situation. We are happy, and in a good mood but it seems that the world around us is not. We go through life so worried about little things that we are just going through the phases of life. We get so grumpy about so many little things that we forget that we should go through life living in joy.

Yes, we will go through life and have trials but we shouldn't let that get us down. Now people may say, "Well that is stupid, why would I be happy when I'm having a hard time?" James 1:2-3 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." It's inevitable, we will have hard times in life. However, we shouldn't let it get us down because our trials are growing our faith, it is allowing us to learn more about ourselves and what we can handle. Everything that happens to us or that we go through is for a greater purpose. That greater purpose could be for our future, or to help someone else along.

Now there are a few cures for living a life of grumpiness.

1. Surround yourself with people that will lift you up.

They say you pick up traits from the five people you spend the most time with. If the people you always hang around have a bad attitude eventually you will pick up a bad attitude. It is much easier to bring someone down than it is to lift someone up.

2. Laughter.

If you are always happy, and laughing you don't have time to stress or worry. They always say laughter is the best medicine.

3. Slow down.

If you don't take time to stop and smell the roses life is just going to pass you by. A lot of people get so frustrated, and down with life because they try to take on so many different things at once. When you get to the point that you're juggling ten million things at once nothing is going to be fun anymore.

Next time you're out and about give someone a smile. A smile goes a long ways. Your smile may be the only encouraging thing they've had in a long time. Living life like a grump does no one any good, especially not yourself. Living a life of joy not only makes life simpler for you, but living life this way also gives pleasure to God. Life is to short to not be happy, so don't let the trials of this life get you down.