Life is a constant strand of decisions and will never cease to be. We face simple, everyday decisions such as what to eat for breakfast, whether or not to snooze your alarm once more, or how you’re going to react to that rude driver on the interstate. But we also face large, heavily-weighted decisions such as who you’re going to marry, if at all, if you’re going to live and love as Christ, or if you are going to choose joy or sorrow.

Today, I choose joy and will continue to choose joy.

Now, you might scoff and say, “It’s not that simple.” But it is that simple just not that easy. It’s hard and it’s a day-to-day fight to trust that God will work everything for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). You don’t have control or choice of the circumstances you are placed in but it is your responsibility to decide how you are going to react to those circumstances.

“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”

-Henry Drummond

This doesn’t mean that you will always be happy, as joy and happiness are not equals. Joy is something only God can give and something that will never leave you even in times of hurt and unhappiness. Jesus is our joy. God never promised our happiness, in fact, he actually promised our sorrow. But through this promise of sorrow he promised joy in return that is a result of the free gift of salvation.

Difficult circumstances will arise, hateful words will be spoken, and sometimes things just won’t go the way you want them to. But God is good and there is no reason that we should ever doubt that. There are so many things that remind me of His love and goodness. Simple things like a kind, smiling stranger at your local coffee shop, the sunrise coming over the cityscape, dinner with your friends and family, laughter, the very breath that you just breathed.

And like one of my very best friends, Xavier, always says, “Positive vibes.”