I woke up this morning with half of me hoping I could go back to sleep longer, the other half was frustrated because I slept past my normal wake-up time. I had my usual cup of coffee, dressed, and left for campus to go workout. On the way, I remember thinking, “I don’t know why I’m not in a good mood, but I guess I don’t have to be in a good mood every day.”

Before I started running, I prayed for God to lift my mood. Then I started my stopwatch, I focused on the sun, my strides, and how the wind blew against me on the East side of the track. I went over to the gym after, Friday is Fitness Friday after all. I started lifting, Friday is also Leg Day, and when I felt satisfied with exhaustion after almost two hours of working out, I felt elated. Funny how our mood can go bad to good within a matter of minutes, all I had to do was pray to God and start my day.

Running usually isn’t what people want to do on a Friday morning, but I had to get it done. I went from being in a slump to actually enjoy the morning and it is one of the best days I’ve had in awhile. It didn’t take long for my mindset to turn from negative to positive, all I had to do was pray.

On the other hand, sometimes my mindset goes from positive to negative and it seems to happen much quicker too. A day can turn south on a dime, when something you don’t want to happen, happens. We can’t control what happens to us, we can’t control when all the stoplights turn red, the workout is tough, the Keurig breaks, test results come back and frankly, they suck. So what do we do? We control what we can control. Our response.

Even Big Sean faces hurdles in life because didn’t he say “Last night took a L, but tonight I bounce back”? And what about that cliche quote that everyone knows, "When nothing goes right, go left"? Look at the Bible, people from two thousand years ago faced hardship, we read in 1 Peter 5:7 “Throw all your anxiety onto him, because he cares about you."

Yes, I did just reference a rap song and the Bible in the same paragraph. I did that because stuff happens, it’s inevitable. Whether you are a Christian or not, whether you are eighty years old or ten. Bad things happen. Why should they not? We aren’t entitled to a carefree life, we don’t deserve easy living. When stuff happens, the only thing we can do is respond as best we can.

How do you respond? Psalm 94:19 says “When my anxieties multiply, your comforting calms me down.” I woke up feeling less than great, but my response to this crappy mood was to just keep going, enjoy the little things, and to not let myself focus on the negativity. I prayed while I drove to the track, and I prayed before I started running. I listened to worship music and trusted that God was going to be with me throughout the day. Working out was just the activity, God was who I had my mind set on and that’s what changed my day. He was my response.

Big Sean must've taken a big L but he bounced back. Let's do the same.