Day 2224 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Ecclesiastes 5:18 NIV

Life doesn't feel very fair sometimes. Our trials don't make sense. Our circumstances are harder than we'd like. Some of the things in our way on this journey seem like the odds are stacked against us and we don't have any chance of making it. Our days can feel mundane and repetitive. The things we have to do may not be all that enjoyable. So what do we do when we struggle to find joy in our lot?

Well we can get upset. We can whine about how unfair it is. We can let ourselves be trapped in this miserable mindset where joy eludes us. We can focus only on the bad and neglect the good. We can let the hard days outshine the good ones and allow them to pull us down. We can sit around with this woe is me outlook on life and just believe that everything is against us and our happiness.

All that's fine and often our natural reaction to things. But what does it get us? How do we gain anything from that? Does constantly seeing only the worst in life do anything good whatsoever for us? I guess some may think that it does but they're going to be hard-pressed to make me see it. Living in this dungeon of darkness and despair only sucks any hope of joy out of life. I'll never understand the benefit of that.

On the other hand, we can wake up every single day and chase joy with everything we've got. We can do everything in our power to be happy and see the good in life. Sure, some days we won't catch it. Sometimes that joy and happiness will just stay out of reach. But we can try. We can keep trying. We can refuse to settle into that place of self-pity and anger. May not be as easy as the first option but this one clearly has the bigger upside!

We often think of life as this magical fairytale where everything is just perfect. Maybe it's because of all the movies we've seen where everything works out just right. Or maybe it's because we're lost in this nonsense idea where we deserve to be catered to and have our every dream fulfilled. Whatever the case may be at some point we're going to have to come back to reality and realize that life is what it is and our joy is determined by how we respond to it.

Look, we only have a certain number of days on this earth. And no matter how we spend them, we can't get any of them back to do it any differently. Any day that you spend upset, disappointed, angry, or frustrated is one that you could have spent happy, content, joyous, and at peace. So whatever you do, whatever the Lord leads you to, wherever He has you at this moment, whatever you're dealing with and however it makes you feel remember that you have a choice. And like it or not, that choice will always define the amount of joy in your life.