It would be much easier if it weren’t for one word. That. One. Word.  I’m talking about Paul’s exhortation to the church in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice.”  The word “rejoice” here simply means to be “cheerful, calmly happy.”  That’s fine, because rejoicing is much more enjoyable than the alternative.  And I have days when rejoicing is practically unavoidable.  But then the Divinely inspired writing adds that one word “alway.”  And it’s not hard to know what that word means: “always, everywhere, every day and in every circumstance.”  Being cheerful or calmly happy is not the problem (although for some it seems to be quite a chore!).  The difficulty for me lies in the part of the command that says “always.”  Doesn’t God understand that I have my bad days and therefore have a right to live out my misery before others?  Take yesterday for example.  I won’t bore you with the details, but trust me; it wasn’t a banner day by any stretch of the imagination.  I don’t need to give you the details, because I’m sure you’ve had days like that, and you know exactly what I’m talking about.  Actually, God does understand that difficult days come, and He gives the solution in the same verse.  The key is found in the words “in the Lord.”  Our Lord is always good, always loving, always merciful, always interceding, always the same, always worthy, always…, well, you get the point.  Now if He is always all that (and more!), then it is possible to rejoice always, because my joy is in Him and not in my circumstances.  Rejoice?  I can do that.  Rejoice always?  I need to stay focused on Him for that one.  And so do you.