Happiness can be a sailboat. Some people work in high-stress environments all week long, and they let it all go on their sailboats on their day off.
Some have big sailboats and others have small ones. It might not be much, but it's all they need to get out on the lake. They'll go alone, or if they have room, they'll take a couple of friends. If you just have a boat and a mast, you're going to sit there until you're older. The action really begins when you put up the sail. That's when it gets exciting because you wait to see where the wind will take you.
Psalm 37:5 of God's word says, "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this." Pretty simple instructions, aren't they? We could breeze right by them, taking them as a nice little motto. This really says that we need to take the way we're going today and turn it over to the Lord. Too many of us let our relationship with Him deteriorate into something general, boring, theological, or theoretical.
The lifestyle God suggests here is alive and it's practical. It's as practical as all the things we have to do today. This makes our to-do list God's to-do list, our appointments His appointments, our purchases His purchases, as we consciously commit them to Him before we get to them.
So at the beginning of the day, pray through your day. In other words, just before you go out and start all the things that make up your day, go into it mentally and visit each part of it and each person you know you're going to meet. Visit it consciously with Jesus. Go there with Jesus and make Him Lord over each of the places you expect to go, of each of the things you expect to do, and of each of the people you expect to be around. Commit your way to the Lord.
There's more to this daily adventure of following Jesus. Let Him surprise you. As you commit your way to Him, you're saying, "Lord, since it's your way, it's your day. I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it. You can make any changes you want even though it won't go the way I planned it."
Don't lock up your day so tight that there's no room for God to insert a divine interruption or an unexpected opportunity to touch someone's life. Maybe there will be an unpleasant surprise that will set you up for a later blessing. The idea is not that you just get up and drift all day with no course—that's a good way to end up on the rocks. If you do, don't blame God for your lack of planning. Just give your way to the Lord to do with it as He knows best because the Father really does know best.
In a sense, we're all supposed to be sailors—Holy Spirit sailors. Each morning, put up your sail and say, "Take me where you want to go today, Lord." Let the wind of God's Holy Spirit drive your day in the direction it's supposed to go.