The other day I felt a splinter in my finger. I could not see it but I knew it was in there, causing a slight pain. It was just enough to be irritating and I knew that I had to get it out. The problem was that I was unable to find it by sight and was having to feel around for it. Finally, I somehow managed to get my fingertips on it and pull it out. The tiny thing was gone and I knew this only because I could no longer feel the tiny pain in my finger. I looked for it on the fingers that I had used to pull it out, but it was not there. It was so small and insignificant that I was unable to detect it, but I knew that it had been causing me pain in that finger. It was very real to me, but had I tried to show it to someone else, they would not have been able to see it either.
There are moments in time, maybe even seasons that we go through, when something is just not right but we can't place our finger on it. A mood we find ourselves in or the Funk Cloud looms overhead. We know it is there, we can feel the pain from it, but just can't seem to find the root cause of it. There is pain coming from an unknown source that we can't get rid of and cannot understand the meaning behind it. Whether it is physical or emotional pain, it is very real to us. When we try to describe it to close friends or confidants, we may fumble for words to describe it, or to make any sense to them as well.
While everyone is suggesting the possible cause of this pain, nothing is ringing true. The answers are not coming today, and the dull pain may be sharpening. As many thoughts enter your mind as to what may be driving this, nothing is allowing for a “Eureka” moment. The pain or darkness just seems to sit over you and when you try to move, it follows you. There is no escaping it, no way out from under it and no known path through it. So you just keep pushing, keep walking and hope that it goes away. The help from friends is as much help as your own thoughts and comfort for the pain eludes you. You chalk it up as something that you just have to get through and start another day.
As the pain is slight and small, it doesn’t paralyze you. You are able to continue on with the everyday duties, but it is still there weighing on your mind. It will not allow you to forget all about it. You turn the right way and it becomes a sharp pain. Other times, it doesn’t seem to be there at all. When you look into it, you can’t find it. When it is not on your mind, it gains your full attention. As you realize that you must get it out, it begins to increase in its weight. This distraction and small pain now has you gripped and you know that something must be done. You rack your brain trying to figure out what is causing this dysfunction. As thoughts come rushing in, you begin to discard the ones that do not seem directly related to your problem. The investigation may take a little while. You may seek out friends to help with discovering the source of the pain and clouds. Or you may try to deal with it discreetly, embarrassed that you feel the way you do and wanting to keep it personal and private.
Oftentimes, there can be something small, something slight that holds us in its clutches for a period of time. A small matter, to be sure, but one that calls to you for attention and a necessary surgical procedure to cut it out. Getting to the bare bones of it is a chore but it must happen to find some relief from it. The suggestions are endless but when you uncover the source of the pain, there is much relief. It may have ultimately been an untimely and ill-conceived comment from someone that started the whole thing. Maybe the shortened and cloudy days of winter that have caused you the Blues. A betrayed trust deep in the past that creeps back in and pricks you just enough to be a nuisance. An incident that you thought you had put behind you and forgiven, but it rears its ugly head when you least expect it. A friend that tells you the truth in an unkind way. At times, it can be something you had forgotten all about and once you’ve found yourself in the funk, it comes back and seems to have been the trigger for the whole mess.
"The spiritual life is a life beyond moods. It is a life in which we choose joy and do not allow ourselves to become victims of passing feelings of happiness or depression." – Henri Nouwen
Whatever the origin, or the mood you are in, the cloud that can’t be shaken is there and is not easily removed. Thankfully, we have friends we can talk to and help us to work these things out. But we also have a Loving and Comforting Healer who can walk us through the difficult season.
In Psalms 42, the author suggests a solution to our problem, and his. He starts out by saying that he is thirsty for the Lord and that he is tired from crying. Apparently, he has the blues before they were called that. His situation may be a little different than ours in that he has some enemies causing him distress. But, the situations are similar in that he, and we, are discouraged, disheartened and melancholy. His heart is breaking. He states that he will remember the Lord’s past goodness to him.
He acknowledges also that everyday “the Lord pours His Unfailing Love upon me, and through each night I sing His Songs, praying to God who gives me life”(Psalm 42:8). He then describes the feeling that God has forsaken him, which we all can probably agree on that we feel when we our most down in the dumps. He ends the chapter by saying again that he will put his hope in the Lord. So instead of focusing so much on the what or the why of the clouds engulfing us, we should focus on the Who. Who Loves us with an Unfailing Love? Who offers His kindness to us? Who gives us songs in the night?
In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Paul writes “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.” In verses 16-18 he states: “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
These two portions of Scripture reveal to us, probably the best approach to the problem of having Funk. When we stay focused on the mood, the clouds overhead, or the perplexity of situation, we are clearly not focused on the God we worship or the fact that He is with us in it. No matter what is causing our souls to be downcast, He is still Loving us right then and there. Things may not go away overnight, feelings may linger and our countenance still betray our thoughts. We may still find it hard to breathe, hard to comprehend what is going on and why we are so down.
But the One who died for us, cares for us and knows just how deeply we feel what we do. The loneliness He experienced in His recorded lifetime, tells us that He KNOWS what we are going through and we can TRUST Him to walk through this crisis with us. The splinters of life, the small irritating things that lead us into a deeper and darker situation, can be handled more easily by entrusting them to Him.
There are moments in time, maybe even seasons that we go through, when something is just not right but we can't place our finger on it. A mood we find ourselves in or the Funk Cloud looms overhead. We know it is there, we can feel the pain from it, but just can't seem to find the root cause of it. There is pain coming from an unknown source that we can't get rid of and cannot understand the meaning behind it. Whether it is physical or emotional pain, it is very real to us. When we try to describe it to close friends or confidants, we may fumble for words to describe it, or to make any sense to them as well.
While everyone is suggesting the possible cause of this pain, nothing is ringing true. The answers are not coming today, and the dull pain may be sharpening. As many thoughts enter your mind as to what may be driving this, nothing is allowing for a “Eureka” moment. The pain or darkness just seems to sit over you and when you try to move, it follows you. There is no escaping it, no way out from under it and no known path through it. So you just keep pushing, keep walking and hope that it goes away. The help from friends is as much help as your own thoughts and comfort for the pain eludes you. You chalk it up as something that you just have to get through and start another day.
As the pain is slight and small, it doesn’t paralyze you. You are able to continue on with the everyday duties, but it is still there weighing on your mind. It will not allow you to forget all about it. You turn the right way and it becomes a sharp pain. Other times, it doesn’t seem to be there at all. When you look into it, you can’t find it. When it is not on your mind, it gains your full attention. As you realize that you must get it out, it begins to increase in its weight. This distraction and small pain now has you gripped and you know that something must be done. You rack your brain trying to figure out what is causing this dysfunction. As thoughts come rushing in, you begin to discard the ones that do not seem directly related to your problem. The investigation may take a little while. You may seek out friends to help with discovering the source of the pain and clouds. Or you may try to deal with it discreetly, embarrassed that you feel the way you do and wanting to keep it personal and private.
Oftentimes, there can be something small, something slight that holds us in its clutches for a period of time. A small matter, to be sure, but one that calls to you for attention and a necessary surgical procedure to cut it out. Getting to the bare bones of it is a chore but it must happen to find some relief from it. The suggestions are endless but when you uncover the source of the pain, there is much relief. It may have ultimately been an untimely and ill-conceived comment from someone that started the whole thing. Maybe the shortened and cloudy days of winter that have caused you the Blues. A betrayed trust deep in the past that creeps back in and pricks you just enough to be a nuisance. An incident that you thought you had put behind you and forgiven, but it rears its ugly head when you least expect it. A friend that tells you the truth in an unkind way. At times, it can be something you had forgotten all about and once you’ve found yourself in the funk, it comes back and seems to have been the trigger for the whole mess.
"The spiritual life is a life beyond moods. It is a life in which we choose joy and do not allow ourselves to become victims of passing feelings of happiness or depression." – Henri Nouwen
Whatever the origin, or the mood you are in, the cloud that can’t be shaken is there and is not easily removed. Thankfully, we have friends we can talk to and help us to work these things out. But we also have a Loving and Comforting Healer who can walk us through the difficult season.
In Psalms 42, the author suggests a solution to our problem, and his. He starts out by saying that he is thirsty for the Lord and that he is tired from crying. Apparently, he has the blues before they were called that. His situation may be a little different than ours in that he has some enemies causing him distress. But, the situations are similar in that he, and we, are discouraged, disheartened and melancholy. His heart is breaking. He states that he will remember the Lord’s past goodness to him.
He acknowledges also that everyday “the Lord pours His Unfailing Love upon me, and through each night I sing His Songs, praying to God who gives me life”(Psalm 42:8). He then describes the feeling that God has forsaken him, which we all can probably agree on that we feel when we our most down in the dumps. He ends the chapter by saying again that he will put his hope in the Lord. So instead of focusing so much on the what or the why of the clouds engulfing us, we should focus on the Who. Who Loves us with an Unfailing Love? Who offers His kindness to us? Who gives us songs in the night?
In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Paul writes “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.” In verses 16-18 he states: “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
These two portions of Scripture reveal to us, probably the best approach to the problem of having Funk. When we stay focused on the mood, the clouds overhead, or the perplexity of situation, we are clearly not focused on the God we worship or the fact that He is with us in it. No matter what is causing our souls to be downcast, He is still Loving us right then and there. Things may not go away overnight, feelings may linger and our countenance still betray our thoughts. We may still find it hard to breathe, hard to comprehend what is going on and why we are so down.
But the One who died for us, cares for us and knows just how deeply we feel what we do. The loneliness He experienced in His recorded lifetime, tells us that He KNOWS what we are going through and we can TRUST Him to walk through this crisis with us. The splinters of life, the small irritating things that lead us into a deeper and darker situation, can be handled more easily by entrusting them to Him.
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