A few years ago, Billy Collins wrote a masterpiece called “Some Days.” Some Days you eat the bear and other days the bear eats you is Collin’s poetic explanation of the piece. In it he asks the question:

“How would you like it if you never knew from one day to the next if you were going to spend it striding around like a vivid god, your shoulders in the clouds, or sitting down there amidst the wallpaper, staring straight ahead with your little plastic face?”

In essence, what he is saying is, Some Days you are at the top of your game – other days you are not. Some Days, as a writer, speaker, singer, preacher, parent, a Christian, leader, professional, athlete – you are on top of the world, but other days you are dull, uninspired, bored, creatively challenged, down, depressed – at a wall.

How do you deal with this kind of emotional roller coaster? How do you manage to stay focus, and keep a sound mind when you are feeling dry, less inspired than the day before? How do you get you get back into the grove? Here are a few thoughts to consider:

Tap into the Supernatural

Where I come from, the question whether God exist is no question at all. There is no argument at all about it. Here in the west we love to elevate ourselves to the status of god-like geniuses or go looking for inspiration in wrong places. Sometimes we hold to the wrong notion that God only releases inspiration, creativity and hope on a faithful few. But “God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening. Their words aren’t heard, their voices aren’t recorded, But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.” Psalm 19:1 – Tap into His daily inspiration!

Look to the old to inspire the new

In a recent interview on TED Radio Hour with Abigail Washburn, the following question brought a very inspiring answer from the singer songwriter: “Is there any environment that really helps you in your creativity when writing or thinking about lyrics? To that she answered, “when I need a new idea, I listen to the old ones.” What a powerful idea. Go listen to old preachers preach, old speeches, old songs and artists. We sometimes think – “oh, I need to listen to something fresh, new and out of the box.” Sometimes all we need to do is, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it.” All of a sudden we can find our way again. Jeremiah 6:16 – Tap into His unchanging ways!

Accept that some days the bear eats you

It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. You are going to experience a really tough time. Welcome to the human race. It is going to happen. whether you like it or not. We live in a fallen world. Some people think winning is what life is really about. Unfortunately this is to settle for a shallow life. “He who watches the wind looking for perfect conditions will not plant his seeds. And he who looks at the clouds will not gather the food.  Just as you do not know the path of the wind or how the bones are made of a child yet to be born, so you do not know the work of God Who makes all things. Plant your seeds in the morning, and do not be lazy in the evening. You do not know which will grow well, the morning or evening. Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 – Tap into the adventure of the unexpected

Turn bad days into good information

I got a free download of The Daniel Plan from audible.com three days ago. And I picked up the above phrase from the book about what to do when you fail to follow-through on your goals. You don’t beat yourself up; you don’t throw a pity party – you turn your bad day into good information. Take whatever it is that keeps you from doing the things you purposed to do by putting them in perspective to educate yourself. You will realize that “Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart. Yet, on the inside, God is making all things new by his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the lavish celebration prepared for us.” 2 Corinthians 4:17 – Tap into the life changing process.

This is the kind of stuff that make for an adventurous Christian life… it never gets boring.