When the Blue Funk Hits

by Sherri Wynn

Before we start, I already know that elder’s wives are always bubbly and cheerful and happy. You know, perky. 24-7-365. Everyone else believes we’re constantly overflowing with joy … except we’re not.

I’ve worn the cheerful face more than once when happy was dead last on my emotional registry. Not only are we human, but we’re also (sometimes) insanely hormonal. We get down. We need to recharge, but we forget how. Our husbands tiptoe around us, looking for signs that the blue cloud is lifting.

            “Sweetheart, would you like to go out for dinner?”

            “No.”

            “How about just some ice cream? There’s a new place…”

            “No.”

            “A nice drive?”

            “No.”

            “Maybe--”

            “No.”

And before long, it’s time to throw something together to take to that new group meeting over at the church and pretend we actually want to be there. We know we’re going; we just don’t know quite how to get our attitude adjusted before we arrive.

To help me at those times, I play a little game called “What If.” I imagine several scenarios where I ask myself things like, “What if I were so rich, I could buy a private island somewhere and never leave?” After a while, my questions transition to, “What if I had to deal with what so-and-so is facing?”

It’s a very sobering moment. That’s when I remember the story of Peter in prison the night before he was to be executed (Acts 12). Another disciple, James, had just died for his faith. After likely being beaten and thrown into a literal hole in the ground for high security prisoners, Peter was chained and guarded by sixteen soldiers in a very dark, nasty-smelling place. Sixteen! Yet we’re told he slept so soundly the angel God sent to rescue him had to hit him to wake him up. If there were ever a time for Peter to get the Blue Funk, that was it. Instead, he shows us he had learned to live each moment by faith with peace; then he left the outcome to God.

Peter’s story always gives me an attitude adjustment. Even through ups and downs, God has blessed me beyond measure. He knows how to shake me out of my pity-party moods. Those times will come, but praise God, they don’t last.