Except I'm pretty sure this is not the kind of funk that Parliament was talking about. My funk was more like this one.
It's hard to describe my mood over the past couple of weeks. Nothing was going my way. Everything I tried to do turned out wrong. I spent most of my time being angry about something, or crying about something, or both. I felt like that passage in Psalm:
I'm a bucket kicked over and spilled, every joint in my body has been pulled apart. My heart is a blob of melted wax in my stomach. I'm dry as a bone, my tongue black and swollen. They have laid me out for burial in the dirt. --Psalm 22:14-15 (msg)What was going on?? Why wasn't anything helping?? I was doing so well--getting closer to God, getting along with my husband, kicking ass at work--and now this? What gives? I was just a couple of steps away from giving myself an emo haircut so that the world could see all my feelings.
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| Look at all the feelings! |
I was doing my bible reading when a phrase I've heard started echoing around in my head:
Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. --Hebrews 13:15 (nlt)
When things are going my way, praise isn't a sacrifice--it's second nature. It's easy to praise God when everything is awesome! But when I'm "a bucket kicked over and spilled" I tend to have more of a "woe is me" attitude. Nothing is good now, and nothing will ever be good again.
In Ephesians, Paul tells us to "let the Spirit renew [our] thoughts and attitudes." (Eph. 4:23 [nlt])
God doesn't want us to get stuck in the funk, and He gives us the key to getting out of it: the sacrifice of praise! You can't praise God and wallow in misery at the same time. If you sacrifice your whining and moaning for praise, you actually start to feel better. In other words, if you stop trying to figure things out yourself and do what God tells you to do, things get better.
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| Shocking, I know. |
It doesn't have to be this big, elaborate, complex thing. One of the most effective things for me has been singing a hymn I remember from the churches I grew up in.
Another thing I've started to do when I feel the funk coming on is to stop whatever I'm doing and think of five things I'm thankful for. Again, it doesn't have to be elaborate. Having Flaming Amy's chips and pineapple jalapeno salsa has made my list--I'm not here to judge what's on yours.This is the day(This is the day)That the Lord has made!(That the Lord has made!)I will rejoice(I will rejoice)And be glad in it!(And be glad in it!)This is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!This is the day(This is the day)That the Lord has made.
God meets you at your level of expectation. If you expect this day to be just like yesterday and the day before and the day before, it will be. If you think your situation is never going to change, it won't. The only think stopping God from doing awesome, amazing, incredible things in your life is YOU.
The point is if you fill your head with praise and thanks, you don't have room for whining and self pity and negativity. And that frees you up to "Tear the roof off this mutha," as Parliament so eloquently puts it.
