"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24).

Yesterday, a colleague and I were working on a video project. The tools were not ideal for the job, so we struggled a little. Okay, we struggled a lot. If we were tweeting, #frustration would have been trending.

Then an interesting thing happened. One of the guys on the team threw a curve. He chose joy. He changed a couple of lines of the script. He changed a couple of video frames, and he shared the resulting clip. It was hilarious. I laughed. He laughed, and soon half of the people in the room were laughing. Now we were trending #joy.

This experience got me thinking about how simple it can be to create joy. In fact, creating joy in the classroom doesn't have to be a big challenge. It doesn't take much to bring a smile to the face of a student or share a laugh while explaining a particularly difficult concept.

There are plenty of lists that suggest ways to infuse a little more joy into the classroom, but generally, it doesn't have to be as structured as all of that.

Here's a simpler, happy list of ways to bring more joy into your classroom:

1. Start the day from a place of joy. Your attitude determines the tone of your classroom. Whenever possible, give yourself morning time to pray and practice gratitude. In this way you can ready yourself for the day ahead. Remember why you chose to teach and remind yourself of the many blessings that God has provided in your life.

2. Look for opportunities to share some joy. As you go through your day, check into the mood, the atmosphere, the overall tone. Don't be reluctant to take a joy break, tell a joke, read a funny poem, and let your students release their stress with laughter. The payoff for the time spent can be big.

3. Leave space and time to breathe and regroup. Stepping away from a stressful task is good in the workplace and in the classroom. Make sure you build in a little time each day for giving your students some freedom. Encourage them to move around, breathe deeply, and do something they choose.

4. Don't be afraid to be silly. The average child laughs 400 times every day. By the time he becomes an adult, the frequency decreases to 15. Give your students something to keep their laughter index high. Why sentence them to age-inappropriate seriousness? Surprise...it's good for you, too.

5. Smile more. Sounds simple enough, but to smile more, you have to be aware of what your face is doing. Check in with this vital organ on a regular basis. As an added benefit, it may reduce the aging process. I have no empirical proof of this, but I am sure that you will feel younger, despite your actual age.

The truth is that laughter reduces stress, increases a sense of well being, and increases the levels of oxygen in the bloodstream which in turn raises the energy level. I'm a believer. It happened to me just yesterday, and I'm committed to making it happen today.

Father, thank you for the privilege of being a teacher and the opportunity to discover Your world anew each day through the eyes of the children in my care. Help us to find joyful moments and share laughter as we learn and grow together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

How do you bring joy into your classroom? Share your silliest stories and your best tricks.