you put your whole self in

by Kari Henkelmann Keyl

I do a lot of listening for a living. And here’s what I’m hearing: Lots of people are wandering these days, in some kind of uncharted territory. Joblessness. Cluelessness. Homelessness (physical and/or spiritual). Rug-pulled-out-from-under-me-ness. All kinds of “lands of the lost".

Sometimes wanderers look around for a hero, someone to inspire them, cheer them on. And sometimes they look into their own past, to find the hero they once were.

I’m not talking super-heroes here. Just people who know what they are passionate about, and they go or it. They put their whole selves into what they’re doing. And they make a difference.

Can you look back into your story and locate an episode where you put your whole self into what you were doing? Did you feel the aliveness that comes from being focused and determined? Or was it just the freedom to be who you are and do what you do best?

I can think of work weeks where I hammered or painted or cleaned up messes with a great group of volunteers. I gave a week of my time to do something out of my comfort zone, for someone else. It wasn’t easy, but it felt great. And I still reach back to those experiences, when God’s energy was so tangible and sure… especially during my times of wandering.

There came a time in Jesus life when he was in uncharted territory. Now I’m not saying he was wandering, because I don’t want to project or assume… but he was human, and he had some mighty tough realities to face. Like when he was in Jerusalem, not at all his home turf, and he knew that if he kept challenging the system there’d be serious consequences. He mentioned more than once that he saw death row in his future. But he didn’t let that stop him.

Take a look at this episode from Jesus’ life and see what he sees, the injustice as well as the hero he admires.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2012:38-44&version=NCV
She gave all she had. She might as well have climbed up and put her whole body-and-soul into the offering box. Unknowing, she gave a gift of life to Jesus, even as he walked forward to put his life on the line… for her and for all of us.

There’s so much more here to talk about here. Please share your thoughts by clicking on “comments” below. Better yet, if you’re able, come to the Crowne Plaza in Nashua (at exit 8) where we’ll dig into the good stuff of this story and stories happening around us as well.

Wandering with you,

Kari

Dialogo: Wandering and Connecting

Over the past week I have seen more of New England than I think I have in the past couple of years. A friend of mine came to visit and we headed off through the Green Mountains, the White Mountains, a Boston zoo, coastal Maine, and the many "trails" of touristy areas.




Having been born in North Dakota, a speed bump used to get me excited (it's a bit flat there...). But there is nothing like driving through some of the beautiful landscapes we are blessed with here.





Each day we checked the map to decide where we were going to head out and then jumped in the car and began the day's adventure. What fascinated me about all of this is a rather interesting, though not new perhaps, discovery: the unexpected places held the most fascinating opportunities. Whether we left the highway to travel out into a country road, or drove along one of those gray roads unnumbered and unnamed on our map, there were always more beautiful, more peaceful places to enjoy. It was always in those less expected places where conversations fell silent and we enjoyed the beauty all around us.

Throughout these days though, we spent time in conversation. My friend and I spoke about all kinds of topics and probably talked more in the past week than we have throughout all the years we have known one another. It was a chance to connect, to regroup, to share, to open and heal any old wound, and to catch up on where God had led and is leading us. Like the unexpected gray roads, the gray areas of our lives also turned out to be places where sharing and conversation were the most fascinating.





It is perhaps no small wonder that Robert Frost's "The Road Less Travelled" kept coming to my mind and along with it the thought that Jesus invites us all to take a similar path, one that runs counter to the expectations even we may have for ourselves and our lives.





I encourage you to meditate perhaps on where your journey has taken you these past few days, months, or years. When have you found yourself in one of life's gray areas? What discovery did you make? How did it enrich your life? (Feel free to share them here.)





May you find peace as you reflect on these questions and others that may also surface during this process.