My friend and I had one of the best days ever last week.

The weather was incredible, the sky was blue with fluffy clouds, and the air was hot with a chilly breeze. We spent the morning in class and did better than expected on our tests/quizzes, ran a few errands, ate lunch at Chipotle, and headed to our favorite coffee shop to study. Suddenly 1:00 in the afternoon turned into 6:00 and the employee was asking us to leave. We got in the car, drove back to campus during golden hour, and decided to take the long way home after we parked.

We could not stop talking about how perfect the day had been. We had to tell everyone. I texted my mom and told her how happy I was, we went to a friend’s house and spread our jolly cheer with them, we ran into a friend en-route and told him all about the events of the day, we posted about it on our Snapchats, and then stopped by another friend’s dorm. He played guitar and I sang some of my favorite songs. We finally decided that it was time to head home at around 10:00 and spent the rest of the night studying together and talking about how happy we are to be living this life.

Even though my friend gives credit for her perfect day to the weather, I think that we could have had just as much fun in the rain.

Too often, we let little things take over our day. We see one thing that isn’t going the way it is supposed to, and suddenly the day is not perfect. We let a rainstorm or a bad grade on a quiz or sleeping through the alarm or our favorite restaurant being closed dictate the course of our day. By doing this, we are letting the enemy have his way. We are letting him creep in by being disappointed when things don’t go as we expected.

When I received my test grade that morning, I immediately thanked Jesus. When I walked out of the building and felt a cool breeze whisk through my hair, I thanked Jesus. When each song playing in my headphones at the coffee shop ended, I thanked Jesus. I continued thanking Him for the things that made that day perfect. Psalm 118:24 says that this is the day that the Lord has made. God has His hand in everything that occurs in our every day.

Every cool breeze, every spilled drink, every golden sunset, and every failed quiz. Just as He was all up in the middle of my perfect Wednesday, He will be all up in the middle of the worst day that I experience.

We have the opportunity to be light in a world that is often overcome by darkness. We have the ability to make the most of every day by being thankful for it. Wake up and thank Jesus for another day on His beautiful earth because each day comes with an incredible number of chances to build His kingdom. Our lives on earth are a gift and we have been put here to be used by our Creator.

Why aren’t we taking advantage of this incredible gift each and every day? He has placed us in cities near beaches or mountains or in the countryside surrounded by dogs and squirrels and dolphins. He has given us communities and families and swarms of people that love us. We get to live as bright lights for the kingdom and as children of the Creator of it all.

The greatest love of all is ours and the victory is won. Hallelujah because our God is alive – what a good reason to be happy! That should be the determining factor instead of all of the things that make up a "bad day". Adopt a new mindset and make every day your best day ever.