Choose happiness. I’ve heard this a lot recently, happiness is a choice, you should choose daily to be happy.

Well, I disagree. I do believe you can be optimistic in every situation and look at the brighter side of life, but I do not believe changing your mood is simply a choice. It is not possible to be happy in every situation in life.

However, I think you can be content. I believe it is necessary to feel things other than happiness. I think to appreciate the actual times of happiness and joy we have to at other times admit that we aren’t always ok, and that we aren’t always fine.

It’s ok to be hurting or upset. It’s ok to realize that happiness isn’t the emotion you feel.

Sometimes choosing happiness would mean choosing temporary joy, picking something that wasn’t best for you long-term but provided a feeling of false happiness, or traveling the road of ease and security instead of the road of trials and struggles that would end in a better place than happiness can even describe.

The carnival is in town and it got me thinking. As I drove by all of the different rides I noticed the ferris wheel and the big roller coaster. I think we have two distinct options.

We can choose a life of happiness, floating around in endless circles but having a pretty constant feeling about ourselves and the life we’re living, knowing exactly where we’re going or we can choose Jesus.

When we wake up every morning and choose Jesus we’re choosing a life of ultimate highs and lows, a life of not knowing which way we’re going next, a life of excitement and adrenaline, a life of not being too sure of anything and sometimes even being terrified but continually moving forward anyway.

When we get on the roller coaster we’re putting all of our faith in the manufacturer of the ride, trusting our lives in the hands of the ones who put the ride together, hoping that they have thought everything out and assuming that they’ve done the safety checks.

Now this also brings up a tangent point, we can’t halfway ride the roller coaster and we can’t go back and forth between the ferris wheel and the roller coaster. Halfway riding would mean we didn’t fully trust and I can promise sitting with one arm and leg in and one arm and leg out is going to mean you’ll get hurt way worse than you would’ve had you simply committed completely. We only have one life and one ticket meaning we only have admission to one ride.

Besides, if you stopped the roller coaster halfway through to go ride the ferris wheel I don’t think you’d ever be satisfied from either ride because you were continually wondering if the other was better and never giving either a chance to fully play out.

Back to the main point, I realize there are a lot of flaws in this metaphor (some people don’t feel the way I do about roller coasters and you obviously have to trust the safety of a ferris wheel too, but there’s not as much risk.) but stick with me here.

Let’s say you ride both rides, which leaves you wanting more? Which leaves you with a feeling of some accomplishment, like you conquered something? Which gives you a rush of emotions that are so much more intense than a single feeling can describe?

I’ll give you a hint. It’s the roller coaster. So today I’m telling you to be brave. Be courageous. Don’t choose the ride that gives you a temporary feeling of happiness, choose the ride that leaves you wanting to go back again and again.

I personally could ride the roller coaster all day but find the ferris wheel quite boring after one ride.

I recently went to a conference that talked a lot about being brave, courageous and trusting. I struggle with all these. Especially when it comes to life and the plan I have for myself.

That’s the problem, I have a plan for MYSELF.

Since I was a little girl I’ve known a few things for sure, one of them was that when I went off to college there was about a .001% chance I would return to any sort of small town. I’ve been big city bound for about as long as I can remember.

“What ideas or dreams are you holding on to that is hindering your life and stopping you from living God’s plan?”

These words wrecked me because in my head a big city was always the goal. I’ve seen things leading up to that point as a bridge. College is my bridge from small town America to being among the bright lights of the city.

After pondering that question given to me I’ve decided maybe it’s time to rip out the pages I’ve written for the rest of my story to make it possible to become a part of the book He’s already written. In God’s book I’m a tiny part of a chapter, but to get to be a part of that story I have to let go of the book I’ve written for myself.

Speaking metaphorically I think it’s time to jump off the bridge, time for me to stop seeing any experience as a way to simply get to the next. Maybe one day I’ll end up in a big city but maybe I won’t.

I need to stop seeing my plans as superior and the only and best option for me. Let’s be real, I can barely handle myself on a daily basis right now, much less my life plan.

So, looking back at all that rambling, I think it’s time for me to rip up the story I’ve written myself and let myself jump off the bridge to fall directly wherever God places me. I’d rather be free falling off of a bridge with God being my parachute than walking a tightrope by myself.

So what will you choose? The roller coaster or the ferris wheel? Starring in a novel written by you or a role in the story written by The Creator? The bridge you made for yourself or the free fall with God as your flying partner? “Happiness” or Jesus?

The trick isn’t choosing happiness over Jesus it’s knowing that your true happiness is found in Him.

I choose Jesus.

“He that handles a matter wisely shall find good: & whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.”–Proverbs 16:20