To Be Or Not To Be
Can passions not be pursued?
It was just a trail of thought that stemmed from a casual conversation I had with my friend. Somehow, this question stuck and I found myself feeling extraordinary perturbed for the next few days, undertaking the confusing task of extracting an answer from my thought process.
Can we neglect the God given passions that He has knitted onto our hearts? Should we? Not pursue it at all? Can passion be nurtured? Should we?
If you’re purely here for the answers: Yes. Depends. I’m not sure. Yes. I’m not sure either.
All eyes close, all heads bow. Music Please. Reflect, respond. Next!
Random thought process (Tell me if any of them make sense to you):
>We can neglect our passions – the guy with one talent buried his. >We can and should put our passions on hold to serve more urgent areas of need. >Yet to not pursue it at all seems like treason to me. >You love the things that people whom you love, love. >Passion can be nurtured… right? >Do it enough times, and you might find yourself loving it. >Nurtured passion sounds like brainwashing to me. >It sounds forced. >It sounds sad.
So, how do you know you truly have passion for that job of yours – you might have gained it along the way. And this realization my friend, have implications on a scale of epic proportions.
i’m for the idea of both i think? Passions are of nature as in you are given it right from the start but i also think that passions can be nurtured. Like when u do something more u will begin to like it. My passions are both natural and also when i do it more then i see how God expands the passion to other areas that may be slightly related i suppose?
Can you see the implications of nurturing passion?
a few thoughts … not sure if im right, but just because you’ve passionate about something may not mean it’s the right timing, or you’re even the right person to act on it. Pursuing of it or not is more tricky? Because it could just end up as self actualisation. But at the same time, i think passion is cultivated. I’m not sure I’m self aware enough right now, or ever to know what I’m passionate about without doing more/seeing more, God showing me more, and God kinda works through natural environments etc.
my 2 cents =)
Wow… this is rare comment coming from you! Haha. It’s true. I did point out that it might not be the best timing to act on it.
However, I personally do have a very clear separation between the idea of a dream and a passion. A passion is something very personal, unlike a dream that is more impersonal and can be passed on to someone; somewhat like a vision. Hence I would think that if God gave us the passion, we would be the person to act on it.
I think you brought up a very good point that we might not even know what passions we may have, thus the need for exposure and exploration. I just think what disturbs me a lot is the fact that passion can be nurtured. Can you imagine a Nazi-like regime nurturing passions focused upon the wrong things? It’s a nightmare… seriously.
A forced passion for Christ. Sounds paradoxical.
Sounds like religion to me…