Many times, at this point in the year (whether you are experiencing summer in the northern hemisphere or winter in the southern hemisphere), we sense this kind of ‘funk’ that comes over us. Now a good dictionary will tell you that ‘funk’ means that one is in ‘a state of paralyzing fear, or a depressed state of mind’. I might just say, it’s the desire to just stop doing much of anything; often characterized by the phrase: “I mean, what’s the use of doing ___________ (and you fill in the blank)?”
The psalmist knew this very same feeling: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” (42:11)
These times of ‘funk’, in one sense, are part of the human condition, part of a cross cultural worker’s experience. I guess we could say, they are a sign that we are emotionally real.
However, it’s not the awareness of the ‘funk’ that is the struggle for us, but how we might address it; how we could dig ourselves out of it.
First, we don’t ‘dig’, we grab and hold onto to a hand. By nature, as cross cultural workers, we are ‘doers’. When a problem arises, we try to figure out a solution and address it. That persevering, doing attitude is what landed us in the current place where we are serving. However, addressing the ‘funk’ we may be feeling, begins not by our doing, but by our willingness to admit we need someone else’s help. It is to reach out our hand to grab hold of the divine hand that is being extended to us. The psalmist figured that out when he wrote in response to the ‘funk’ he found himself in: “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” (40:11)
Next, we focus on a person rather than an outcome. Our prayers can often be a long list of points where we are asking God for results or outcomes. And there is nothing wrong with pleading with God for those outcomes. However, our hope is not ultimately in the outcome, but in the One who can bring about the outcome. The psalmist had no assurance of a good outcome at that moment, but he knew the One who was guarding his soul and who would ultimately save him in His way and time. It’s not the outcome we worship, but our eternal God.
Finally, we write about or share where God has taken us in our journey, so as to not forget. How many times have you or I come to a situation and found ourselves responding in the same way we did the last time we were in a similar situation? In part, it’s because we have a short memory and easily forget what God taught us in a previous time and how He desires us to respond in this new situation. Writing down one’s experiences (another way of saying, journaling) is one way of trying to capture those teachable moments. I’m not a great journal-er, but I’m trying to learn. I know there are other ways, so we must try to find some avenue by which to help us remember.
Interested in challenging yourself more on this topic? Consider reading an ‘old’ book: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs.
Filed under: Attitude, Gospel, Journaling | 7 Comments »
‘B.A.’ as friends used to say, that is, a bad attitude. Whatever the cause, unhappiness can be a sign that something has stepped between us and that which we prize more than anything else. In other words, something is blocking us from our idol and that makes us unhappy.
Thoughts Along The Journey 