I Woke Up Today

When’s the last time you’ve woken up with a smile on your face? A smile so genuine, it lasted all morning. A smile that’s brightened up your whole day. I’m guessing not in a really long time. Well, guess what? I wake up with that smile every single day without fail. Why, you may ask? The reason is because my joy is not derived from the material things of this world. Whether I have a test or a roof over my head no way influences the fact that I woke up today, that I’m alive today, that I have breath in my lungs. This is a factor independent from anything, except for one thing: Our Lord, Jesus Christ. I know that most of you will have stopped reading after the previous sentence, but thank you to those that stayed.

Life is malleable. It changes, molds, contorts every single second. One moment may be a happy one, while another may bring devastation. So how are you to retain a happy life if things always change and nothing is for forever? By acknowledging the fact that things change constantly, thus, logically, you shouldn’t place your happiness in them. These inconsistent factors should not dictate your joy, for if you let it, it starts to become your master, while, you, its slave. To be truly free and happy, you should put your faith and trust in something that will never disappoint, that will never change. You may think that a thing like that doesn’t exist, yet it does. The only thing that doesn’t change, the only thing that doesn’t disappoint, the only objective truth is our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the source of all joy, for He, Himself, is the purest and truest form of joy — the one unaffected by anything of this wicked world, yet the one who chose to die on that cross and bear the weight of our sins. He was sinless, yet died for those that were full of it. He took our sins and killed them on that cross. He cleansed us. He loves us. You need to acknowledge this fact as well. I say fact, for it truly is a fact. By putting these deformed, constantly-changing things as the priority in your life, you are idolizing it. You are becoming its slave, being deeply effected, manipulated, by it. Ask yourself this, is it fun, being a slave to the sins of this world, to the desires of the flesh? Is it fun to be happy when things are going well and depressed when they are not? It wasn’t fun for me. Things often didn’t go well, thus I was often unhappy. Before accepting Christ, I never, in my life, had woken up with a smile on my face, yet, now, as soon as I open my eyes, a smile immediately appears on my lips, being grateful because of one simple fact: I woke up today. I woke up — my Lord allowed me to wake up today. That is enough. I am fulfilled by the thought of simply being alive, for that is more than many people have. Many didn’t get the chance to wake up today, but I did,…you did. When you realize that there is a being that created and crafted the entire existence — all the galaxies, starts, planets, — and still paid attention and decided to wake specifically you up, and give you another chance at life, you will start to wake up with a smile every single day as well :)