Jeannie Keneley

What's Love Got To Do With It?

With the excitement of yesterday’s Presidential Inauguration, there seems to be a spirit of enthusiasm in America to join the ranks to make America and the entire earth a better place.  President Obama keeps stressing to each of us that he cannot do this thing alone; that he needs each of us to make a difference in our world.  So this leads me to ask, “Really, what can I do?”

I would suggest to all of us that this world isn’t going to see long-term positive change based on what we do on a national scale, but rather what each of us does on a heart level.   Until the need for change in this world becomes for each of us, a need for change within our own hearts, we will be doing what we’ve done for so long in America; sitting around waiting for someone else to make the world a better place.  I would have to admit that while I watch the world news every evening, with people aimlessly shooting rockets into pockets of civilization taking and maiming innocent lives, I can tend to tune it out thinking that it has been this way for thousands of years, and it’s going to be this way until the end of time.  But, as long as we stay in that frame of mind, I believe we are completely missing the lesson.

In Matthew 25, Jesus talked about the day that we will all stand before God and give an accounting for our lives.  He said,

“Then the King will say to those on His right, “Enter, you who are blessed by my Father!  Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom.  It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation.  And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room,

I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

I was sick and you stopped to visit,

I was in prison and you came to see me….

I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me – you did it to me”.

Jesus was a grass-roots kind of guy.  He changed the world one person, one need, one issue at a time.   Without the help of technology, in the most primitive of circumstances, he lived and died and rose again with such a humble, simple, loving magnificence that whether you believe in His sovereignty or not, no one can argue that He did indeed change the world for all time. I know He changed me.

So, now I’m getting it.  I’m not going to change the world until I change my inward focus. 

It’s not about me...It’s not even about Obama.

It’s about others…It’s about seeing ourselves as part of a greater collective consciousness… It’s about responsibility and stewardship.  And it’s all grounded in LOVE, for ourselves and each other.

So, today I will open my heart to see the others around me.  I may not be able to change the world on a global scale, but I can hold someone’s door, have someone over for dinner, listen to a friend, pray for my husband, visit at the hospital, call my parents, or just compliment a complete stranger on how nice they look today.  I’ve lived long enough to know that it’s the little things that make the biggest differences.

That’s what love’s got to do with it.  Everything.

“Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”  Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence’. This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself’: These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”  Matthew 22:36-40

 

 

Dancing In The Rain

I was in a home décor shop a few weeks ago with my sister, when I spotted a plaque that touched me.  The saying went something like this…

“Life Isn’t Just About Getting Through The Storms; It’s About Learning To Dance In The Rain”.

I would have to admit that this little thought stopped me dead in my tracks.  As I looked at my sister, we just smiled and I noticed a tear in her eye.  It’s so true.

A peace washed over me that transcended all of the panic over the world economy and global crisis.  It went so much deeper than any of the issues that I have ever faced in my life or ever will.  It is a peace that everything will be alright because I know that the same God, who loved me enough to come and die so that I could live, is the same God that holds all of our chaos in the palm of His hand.  I imagine Him sitting back and watching us try to get ourselves out of the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into, thinking “Kids… will they ever learn?”  I know this much; As any good parent giving their children wings, He will let us learn our lessons.  

As a Christ-follower I live with a knowing that when I’ve fought all my battles, cried all of my tears, and finally come to the end of my own egocentric existence, I will stand in front of Him, not thinking about any of the problems that I’ve been through, the mistakes that I’ve made or the sins I’ve committed, but in holy adoration and gratitude that I will not be held accountable for them.  Yep, I live knowing that in the end, I will be standing on the winning side, and all of this earthly mire we keep wallowing around in will be gone forever.

Perhaps like you, I have been through more storms in my life than most, some of which I didn’t know if I’d live through.  But it’s because of those storms that I came to a point of complete surrender and put all of my trust in Jesus Christ to direct my life.  When I did that, He reached down and took my hand.  Slowly, I started to hear it…the music…what The Message calls the “unforced rhythms of grace”.   As He gently pulled me back to my feet we started moving together, one step at a time…one, two, three….once, two, three…  Before long, I got caught up in the beat and before I knew it this dance of communion with Him felt like second nature to me.   Today, there isn’t a whole lot that can rob my joy for very long.  The Holy Spirit just reminds me to listen for the music…for the rhythms of His grace…to keep my hand in His…and keep dancing!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.

 

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy...

Summertime and the livin’ is easy….or is it?

Oh the sweet summer days and evenings filled with sunshine, picnics, water parks, bbq’s, vacations and staycations!  As the screams of delight and laughter of children at play fill the neighborhoods across America, you can almost hear the silent prayer of thanks lifted in unison by mothers from coast to coast for that annual blessing from heaven otherwise known as “back to school”.  As we attend the usual barrage of summer weddings and await the births of babies, we all bear witness once again to the cycle of life that with each new season of birth and death holds the unique power to delight and disappoint, energize and exhaust, gift and grieve us.    Livin’ in America…ain’t it great?

This summer has been different somehow.   Amidst all the usual family filled fun times of summer, there is a different feeling in America this year.  As I talk to people I hear again and again an underlying fear and despair coming through in the conversation.  I have personally never seen America in quite this serious of a predicament in my adult life.  With record numbers of Americans losing homes and jobs, ridiculous oil prices putting the squeeze on all of our wallets, the skyrocketing price of not “living” but rather surviving in this economy is hitting hard.  In talking with a friend the other day we were discussing how easy it is to look at the current state of world and domestic affairs and lose hope.  When we can’t see a way out of the circumstances we find ourselves in, this fear can become a stranglehold on our faith in God and in the future.

If we are honest with ourselves, we have collectively created the mess we are living in right now.  As I watch the atrocities being committed in Darfur and the Congo and contrast that with the way I live, I am appalled to think of the way we waste our freedoms because of our own attitude of entitlement as Americans.  With all that we have been blessed with, I fear that we are selling our birthright to other countries for the sake of having what we want when we want it in the easiest way possible.  Is that what the American dream has become? 

As I talk to other Christ followers, I find it interesting to find that even among Christians, we don’t always want to look introspectively to take responsibility for our own actions that get us into these situations.  Whether on a global scale or a personal one, we find it easier to blame God, asking how could a God of love let this happen?  Even some that try earnestly to follow Him, can’t understand why everything doesn’t work out the way they’ve prayed.  We buy into theories of the law of attraction, we pray and meditate from a self centered core, giving much less importance (if any at all) to God’s laws of love that require responsibility,  accountability, and a heart for the common good that need to work hand in hand to balance things out.  When things don’t work out according to our plans we repeatedly arrive at one question…can I really trust God with my life?

If you’ve ever felt that question welling up within you, I would ask you this.  Can God trust you with your life?  Can God trust us with America and our place in the world?  I would go out on a limb and suggest here that until we do some personal and collective soul searching and take responsibility for our past and future choices, we won’t see the blessing that we so long for.  We choose destructive paths over and over and think just because we regret or even repent of those choices, that maybe we’ll get to skip the consequences that stem from them.  Not usually.  As humans, we don’t learn the deep lessons of life playing on the playground at recess.  We learn them in the classroom, in the day to day struggles of life that ultimately become our greatest teachers.  Although I firmly believe that common sense is not at all common, I would challenge all of us during these tough personal, economic and political times to engage our common sense and start asking the hard questions about ourselves that will lead us into a brighter tomorrow.  This summer can be a turning point for us personally and collectively.  I’ve lived long enough to know that even in summer, the livin’ isn’t really easy for much longer than the length of a well deserved vacation, but I do believe it can be full of purpose, full of hope, and full of the fullness that God promises to us when we open ourselves to receive the lesson.  I guess this is our “back to school”.

This is Driving Me Crazy!

__________ is driving me crazy! Go ahead, fill in the blank. At one time or another we’ve all had something that literally threatened to drive us to the brink of complete desperation. Perhaps it’s a spouse, a job, an employee, a divorce, a child spiraling downward into danger, financial ruin, reoccurring health issues, or legal injustice. Maybe it’s just an incurable loneliness. The list could go on and on. The point is that this is life and we all face disappointments. If you live any time at all, at times you will face what seem to be insurmountable obstacles to overcome.

I had a mother say to me just the other day that her daughter thought God was against her because the circumstances of her life weren’t working out the way she wanted. Through her tears, the mother expressed to me that she was concerned because she didn’t want her daughter to think that God worked that way. I have news for that mother. That’s exactly how God works. It’s those times of extreme disappointment and despair that take us out of our comfort zones and expose the areas within ourselves that need to be dealt with in order for us to grow emotionally and spiritually. You know the old saying that everything happens for a reason? It’s true. The reason those things happen are to teach us something - very often about ourselves.

I don’t believe these times happen just to drive us to despair. However, they do happen in order to drive us somewhere. Where it drives you is up to you. In 2 Corinthians 7:10 the apostle Paul is talking to the church in Corinth about a letter he had written to them that had distressed and upset them greatly. Later, after everything was resolved between them he said… “Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets; end up on a deathbed of regrets.” (The Message)

As Paul continues, we see in verse 11 what distress can produce when we embrace the lesson. “You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart”. I learned a long time ago that God is far more concerned with our character than He is with our comfort, and let’s face it - it’s in the hard times that our character is truly revealed, both to ourselves and to others. Life is a process of maturity that will never happen as long as we live with an attitude of entitlement, always expecting others (including God) to serve us.

If you’ve read my book, you know I’m a poster-child for letting pain and disappointment drive me to such frustration and despair that there were a couple of times that I almost took my own life. It wasn’t until I finally came to the end of myself and let the pain drive me to a place of peace and surrender in God that the circumstances began changing. I think my life was a lot like repeating the same grade in school over and over. The teacher wouldn’t let me move on until I learned the lessons that were mine to learn. When I did, the same repeated circumstances that always led to the same point of frustration stopped “happening”. You see, these things weren’t just happening to me, I was choosing the same behavior over and over, expecting different results.

That mother I mentioned earlier has a heart that only wants the very best for her daughter, so that mother’s heart bleeds for her. You know what? There’s someone who bled for you too, and wants nothing more than the very best for your life. He wants to lead you into health. He wants you to know peace and joy and fulfillment, but this is a two-sided deal. If you reach out to Him, you will find Him waiting. All the work was already done by Him at Calvary. There’s nothing to earn, no hoops to jump through, no set of regulations to be achieved to find Him, no official church blessing necessary. He’s really that accessible. Just open your heart and ask Him to meet you.

So, I guess the question here is where are the disappointments and circumstances of your life going to drive you….to Him or away from Him? The choice is yours. The results of those choices will also be yours. I hope you choose growth.