When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”

Yesterday I had a kind of rough day I have to admit.  The day started with promise and in my blog I talked about expecting God and thought I would pull through.  Had a fantastic breakfast with a fantastic person to celebrate her birthday and then things kinda went downhill.  Rough conversations, too much work to do.  So I went to the gym instead to work some of it out.  I listened to Florence and the Machine loudly while I pretended to work the elliptical to dust.  But when I came home, although my body felt better my spirits had a hard time rallying.  And then little things happened that continued to shift my day.  The Soda stream is out of CO2….the dog barked more than usual at kids walking by the house….requests from email kept coming in…scheduling things weren’t quite working out….

I thought to myself, “Surely women’s choir will lift these spirits because I get to just sing and not be in charge.”  But it just became a bit more irritating as the heat was totally turned down…and I couldn’t quite get that tricky bar that I was sure to get this time…and I was way off on my solo….and I couldn’t quite get that one beat….

When I got home the wine bottle wouldn’t open and….the list could go on….believe me I was running the list of all of the wrong things in life last night….

Now I know logically that of course my foul mood set everything off.  And I know that things were not as bad as they seemed. And I know that I am extremely blessed for many things yesterday…friends, food, warmth, a fantastic staff that makes me laugh..people that remind me of major miracles. Yesterday was no one’s fault but my own.  And yet, I was bummed about the day.  I was disappointed and I didn’t want to look for transformation anymore. And in that moment, as I sat and watched Glee, I thought well, tomorrow is another day.  It’s ok to be in a funk tonight.  God can hold that tonight.  But what does matter is how we wake up the next day.  This is where God invites us to a new adventure.

I woke up this morning to this Matthew scripture that asks the question which person will I be?  Will I be the one who says that I will search for God and not or will I change my mind and go looking? Will I be the one who goes out to the vineyard anyway?  Because whether I am in a funk or not, there are the unlikely people who are still searching for God and will still hold me when I am in that space.  This morning I have some choices to make…I can continue my no good, horrible, very bad day or I can say, “Ok, God…we’ve got today, let’s go to work in your world.”  I think even though I have had rough moments, and we all have them those funky days, I can step into today.  I also can realize that someone else will be in a funk today and I can walk with them in that (or move out of the way just for today).

Prayer:  God hold me in times of extreme funkiness.  Comfort me when I can’t seem to get it together.  Help me create space that I can recharge and be ready for a new day.  Amen.