I went to a Twenty Øne Piløts concert recently and left feeling the best I’d felt in a long time. No joke, if you have the chance to see them live, take the time and make it happen. It is amazing.

On the ride home after the concert, I kept thinking to myself how wonderful I felt, almost a natural high.

It’s hard to pin down the specific feeling. Somewhere between satisfaction and desire, between joy (for having gone) and sadness (because it was over). My head was going insane replaying the moments from the evening and storing away memories which I hope will last forever.

I felt safe and secure during the concert; I was able to leave my worries outside the building.

The worries were waiting for me when I left the arena. But they did not dictate my emotional state- the concert and TØP had ensured I would be set to go on joy for a while.

We all have those rough, frustrating times in our lives and we also get to share in the joys and laughter of other moments.

When we let the worries dictate who we are and what we do, we tend to miss out on the best parts of life.

I’ll be honest- when I’m stressed, it’s easy to tell. I become quick tempered and irritable. It often will seem like I’m on the warpath.

I don’t like that about myself.

When I met my worries again after the concert, I was less bogged down by the weight of the decisions to be made. I felt an uncontrollable enthusiasm for life and all the things I love.

This interaction between my worries and my joy reminded me of a phase my little sister uses consistently:

“So much joy.”

The idea here is that there are moments in life that provide an extreme amount of joy and it’s hard to contain it all within ourselves- it oozes out of us.

When I live with joy as a primary portion of my outlook on life, everything is better.

My favorite aspect of joy is that we get to consistently rejoice in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross over 2,000 years ago. He died to give us eternal life. We have the opportunity to spend eternity with Jesus? Of course that brings joy!

I made the decision to follow Jesus when I was six years old, but I consistently have to choose to follow His direction for my life. I consistently am tempted to sin, but through Jesus my bondage to sin is broken and I can choose the right option.

And when I don’t, Jesus is still there for me to come to, repent, and grow closer to.

Part of the direction for my life is taking joy in the Lord.

Each day brings its own challenges and we will always have horrible moments, but what if we all focused on the things which bring joy into our lives.

A question I’ve been asking my friends this past week is “what are your top five things in life, right now?”

Think about that.

Those reasons are what bring you joy and provide for life to be better.

Each day presents an opportunity for us to choose joy.

Let’s help each other accomplish this task.