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!
