This one was tricky. It taught me that I don’t think about myself enough. I shouldn’t take days to list 10 of my passions. It also showed me that when it gets down to honest, nitty gritty writing, I get quite personal. I almost skipped sharing this in the Facebook group. When I stopped to questions why, I had no real answer other than chickening out. It’s okay to share, especially when it’s personal. It’s honest, and that’s what counts most.
Assignment: Make a list of ten of your passions. Pick one and write about why that topic/subject is your passion. We want to know the nitty gritty whys and hows. Maybe your love for war reenactments stems from your father taking you to battlefields and forts when you were younger or perhaps your pottery obsession is from a desire to understand the verse, “You are the potter and I am the clay…” Whatever your passion, for whatever reason you pursue it, we want to hear about it.
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Ten passions for me are (in random order):
- Family
- Healthy relationships
- Baking
- Written Communication
- Everyday living à la Christian twist
- Kindness
- Gospel Music
- Reading
- Writing
- Encouragement/helping
Everyday living à la Christian twist
Many times a day, I’m confronted with the selfishness of humanity. It’s everywhere. Like e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e! Hospitals, schools, playgrounds. Grocery stores, workplaces, homes. The church. It seems that decisions are being made with the “what can I gain from this?” mentality. Really, it should be more of the “how can I love you–don’t worry about reciprocating” mindset. The news and the social media feeds are full of stories. The comments on these news items are full of opinions, most of which tend to be scathing judgments cast by those who seem to be living only for themselves and their shadow. There is no love or forgiveness in their words, most times. If the people in these stories included God in their lives, they probably wouldn’t even make the news in the first place. God is here. He’s always been here and will always be around. Rather than fight against that, and doing what my flawed self wrongly believes is “good”, I’ve found that my life goes much, much better when I let go and let God reign. I’m realizing more and more that I need to live for Christ each day. The words I speak, the actions I do, the thoughts I think (even in the utmost private areas of my soul) need to all be treated with care and guidance.
Make no mistake—my life is nothing close to perfect! However I don’t let my imperfections be an excuse to cushion my falls. By immersing myself in the Word, I’m able to read history in hopes of not repeating those same things again. Nothing is new. The choices aren’t new, the sins aren’t new. By putting God first, I take the focus of myself and work on doing what God wants me to do. I work at loving other people. I’m able to see others just as they are—people loved by their Creator. God’s generous gifts of grace and mercy cover a multitude of yuckiness. But I can’t coast on that, trusting them to be my ticket throughout this life. The more I study, the more God shows me how to live and how to love. So far, His ways are working even better than any ideas I could think up. I just pray that my life encourages others to live for Him as well.
