the one purpose behind all our passions

“When He breathes inspiration into my heart, it flows directly out of my hands.  Passion spills from my lips.  I feel a release.”  (Jessica of Muthering Heights)

There is nothing more satisfying than the feeling that I get when I write, when I befriend a lonely child, when I do the things that God created me to do. I feel alive, and the fears that often keep me back fade away in the confidence that He gives in doing, in being. These are the passions that make us who we are. This is the feeling of being where we belong, of doing what we were made for. But it is finding purpose within our passion that keeps us going in the right direction.

“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.”  (John F. Kennedy)

“Our passions are the winds that propel our vessel. Our reason is the pilot that steers her. Without winds the vessel would not move and without a pilot she would be lost.” (unknown)

“A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.” (John Maxwell)

“Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel)

Among the endless annals of information available at our fingertips on the great world wide web are a myriad of resources created with the purpose of learning to find directions. On discovering what our passion is and learning how to angle the wind so it propels us forward instead of in circles. Tips on how to to examine our purpose and how we are living to maximize our usefulness and to keep us from getting distracted from what God would have us to do. Thanks to others who have been here before us, we don’t have to make all the mistakes that there are to make. We can learn from their failures and gain courage from their God-given success.

“One of the characteristics of a responsible adult is to recognize the difference between the important and the urgent, and then refuse to be tyrannized by the urgent; refuse to manage by crisis.” (Tsh Oxenreider)

“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“When the problems before you seem to loom larger than the Power behind you, the purpose in living falls right out from underneath of you.”  (Ann Voskamp)

“Art (or whatever our passion may be) really is never about applause. It’s about coming to an altar, it’s about laying it down for God to do whatever He chooses with it.” –Ann Voskamp in the Newsmaker Interview with Marvin Olasky at Patrick Henry College, September 21, 2011

It is not about us. It is about Him. It isn’t about what  we want to do with our passions, but about being willing to do His will most of all, even when it goes against all that we desire. So let us learn, let us strive. Let us encourage each other to remember that He who gave us passion is the One who taught us the purpose for which we were made. He is the one who stands behind us, and says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”  And let us live with the one purpose behind all our passions, to honor Him with all of our hearts, and our lives.

“Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.” (unknown)