WHAT IS YOUR PASSION?

Had a good time with friends recently. We chatted in a restaurant with a play area, their two kids enjoyed the tall slides.  Their son ran up, sat beside me and looked up with a smile, winning my heart.  I ask him, “What did you learn in school today?” with a quick answer he said, “I learned about the word Passion”.  I went on to say, “so what does Passion mean?” He said, “it means what you are Excited About”.  His mother standing there proud at her 5 year old son ask him, “what are you Excited About?” With a quick answer he said, “My Toys”...don’t know if that is the answer she was looking for, but you could see the Passion in his face as he answered her.

Does that account stir you for an answer to that question in your own life? WHAT IS YOUR PASSION? It’s a good thing to know your Passion.  Passion draws from you that thing you want, using your gifts and talents to accomplish your goals and dreams.

I love reading Michael Hyatt, the motivational speaker and writer.  He says these are some reason we have a hard time finding our Passion that are so true:

• Our insecurities define us more than our hidden, suppressed dreams.
• We are afraid to boast.
• We see the vastness of the world and feel insignificant or overwhelmed to make a difference.
• We feel it’s selfish to become introspective.
• We’re extremely busy maintaining an overbooked life and don’t have time to reconsider why we’re working ourselves to death.
• We think it’s wrong to do what we love.
• We feel the sting of rejection the last time we tried operating in our passion, and we’ve let that rejection scare us.
• We are afraid if we identify it, we’ll have to do something, to act on it (and that means risking failure).

Here he gives 3 Important Ways to Discover Your Passion:

1. Where does need and joy collide? discover what you believe to be the world’s greatest need. The passion flows from that.

Michael gives his personal example and he lives it! “For instance, I believe the world’s greatest need is to heal from the past to live freely today. My passion is to write in such a way that I can help people live free.”

So, what is the world’s greatest need, according to you? What you hope to do about that gets at your passion.

2.  Do the three-movie exercise.  Without thinking too much, list your three favorite movies.  

I love this he gives his own personal example giving us a clear picture... 

• Star Wars
• Lord of the Rings
• To Kill a Mockingbird

He said, “I examined those three movies and determined the common thread that ran through each.“ Outcasts who overcome their past to absolutely change the world.”

The statement will closely resemble (if not mimic) your passion in this life. You’ll be stunned at how closely the thread hints at your passion.

3.  Ask others about “one thing.” Ask several of your friends your “one thing” this will strongly indicate your passion. 

A final thought: Once you’ve identified your passion, you can begin to reorient your life around it. You can make difficult decisions in order to do the thing God has uniquely created you to do. Just think of how the Kingdom of God would explode if we dared to live from our passion!