I decided to paint my fingernails before my daughter’s wedding. I had too much to do to paint them in advance, so as my family was loading the car the Thursday before the wedding, I slipped into my other daughter’s room and looked at her menagerie of colors. I quickly chose a bottle with gray sparkles to hopefully match my gray dress, slipped it into my bag, and off we went.

I put two coats on my nails just before we headed to the church Friday morning. It was not what I had expected. Instead of tiny bits of glitter, it had fairly large square chunks in and amidst the clear polish. Two coats gave sufficient gray sparkle to my nails.

Fast-forward 11 days. The glitter gray did the job and a little more. Unlike normal nail polish that chips within days, the gray glitter hung on. In fact, it was a little difficult to take off. Those glitter chunks were cemented to my nails. It took more than a little friction from my fingernail-polish-remover-laden paper towel to pry them loose. Label me impressed, not just at the glitter’s ability to hang on but because even as I was detaching it from my nails, the glitter launched in every direction! It was on my pants and on the floor and on my shirt. And even now after the vast majority of it is gone from my nails, there are still glimpses of it when the light hits my fingernails just right. I’m not going to lie. I smile every time I see them.

It’s amazing the joy a little sparkle can bring, especially in the dead of winter. The days are frigid. It gets dark early in the evening, and the sun is slow to rise in the morning. Some days we don’t see the sun at all where I am in the upper Midwest.

In truth, it’s easy to complain any time of the year. Even when everyone is healthy, when food is abundant, and when the cars are working, it’s easy to find something to gripe about. That is the unfortunate norm in most people’s days. Instead of looking for the good, they are quick to point out the bad.

Christians have a different worldview. We know our heavenly Father sees us and takes care of us. We know we can go to him and that he has access to everything we need and more. We live securely in the grasp of his love, knowing he will see us through each day and work even the unfortunate things we go through for good.

Armed with that perspective, we have the unique opportunity to go through our days filled with joy. The apostle James tells us to face even our trials joyfully, because those trials will build perseverance and make us mature Christians who are better able to endure: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (1:2-4).

That’s next-level glitter! When cemented to your heart, that kind of joy can add sparkle to so many people’s days. When you persist in finding good and smiling and being cheery even when others know your life is not perfect, you shine differently. And that kind of joy is contagious and refreshing.

Try it. Go through today spreading joy. Refuse to complain. Be generous with compliments. Spread cheer. And when people ask why you’re so happy, tell them God is good, he provides, and he’s got everything under control.