Happy New Year: Passion

Today, we’re going to have a little vocabulary study. We’re going to take a look at the word passion. (I’m an English teacher, remember.)

Merriam-Webster says passion is an emotion that is deeply stirring—an emotion that compels action. Without it, life is meaningless and dull.

Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose-Driven Life, says, “The driving force behind all great art, music, literature, drama, and architecture is passion.” As we go through our lives, he says, “passion is what sustains [us] in reaching our goals. It turns the impossible into the possible.”

People are passionate about any number of things: history, ships, writing, swimming, photography. Some people are passionate about orchids. Orchidelirium is the name the Victorians gave to the action-driving “flower madness” that seems to be almost like gold fever for botanical collectors. Books have been written about it. Wealthy orchid devotees of the Victorian era sent explorers out to find rare flowers--heavily armed, to protect themselves against other zealous seekers. You can find a number of web sites about orchids; the one linked here is a good example of this kind of passion.

Many people wander around aimlessly, passionate about nothing, their lives characterized by dispirited emptiness. Those who have found a passion are fortunate; it gives life meaning. God pre-programmed us to be capable of passionate devotion, so that we would seek him and fall in love with him. God-passion gives life the ultimate in meaning. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Passion, as Warren says, is a matter of the spirit. He says the reason “many of us have trouble infusing our daily lives with passion” is that “we don’t know our purpose.” And he said, “At its root passion is a spiritual issue, not a matter of financial greed or romantic pleasure.” Warren’s web site has help for those who want to go deeper with God.

I spent many years of my life trying to avoid passionate devotion to anything other than my family. For some reason, I couldn’t allow within myself a force that is greater than I am, something that might cause me to fall headlong into it. As a result, I diddled along through life, trying not to see its emptiness. I think I was afraid. My faith story tells how I came to know and love him.

Oswald Chambers says in My Utmost for His Highest, “No one on earth has this passionate love for the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Spirit has given it to him. We may admire, respect, and revere Him, but we cannot love Him on our own. The only One who truly loves the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit, and it is He who has ‘poured out in our hearts’ the very ‘love of God’ (Romans 5:5 ). Whenever the Holy Spirit sees an opportunity to glorify Jesus through you, He will take your entire being and set you ablaze with glowing devotion to Jesus Christ.”

And…to conclude our word study, Paul says in Hebrews 12:29, “our God is a consuming fire.” God is the ultimate passion—love. The more I throw myself into that consuming fire, the more free, rich, and full my life is.

Picture: http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/books/62/082126205X/index.html

Happy New Year: Passion

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/01/happy-new-year-passion.html

Thirteen Things, Yes

Yes, I know, I jumped the gun on this Thursday Thirteen thing. I was thinking it was Wednesday night when I posted it. It was actually Tuesday night—so I messed it up from the beginning. Ah, well!

After I posted it , I thought, “I don’t have time to do this.” I know there are thirteen reasons why I don’t. At least five of them are the courses I teach. And every evening, I fix dinner for my mother, my husband, and myself; I take Mother’s to her house and sit with her while she eats. That counts as three: cooking, visiting Mother, and cleaning up. A total of eight, so far. Then I usually wash at least one load of clothes—two more. I do some exercises with my exercise ball so my back won’t hurt—there’s another. I usually e-mail a couple of close friends and one or two of my kids and read a couple of blogs. That takes care of the thirteen!

Then, I thought, “Wait a minute." Maybe I do have time. I will try to use the thirteen meme creatively. I could even use it to proclaim Christ, rather than just posting meaningless things for the sake of posting thirteen things. Okay, I will accept this challenge.

I’ve already done this week’s—a list of fairly meaningless things. Maybe a bit of time wasted. I will pledge myself to create a list with more significant content next week!

Thirteen Things, Yes

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/09/thirteen-things-yes.html