Passion. Not a word that grown up men like to talk about much. It is only for those artsy types and those fools that refuse to grow up. Adults need to live in the real world, settle down, find some stability.
Over the past few month (maybe years) I have tried hard to see the world through the eyes of younger people (Thanks Allison and Josiah). Watching the ebb and tide of emotions, a part of me longs for those days of feeling the energy associated with those emotions. I find myself wondering, does that energy and passion become used up or do we just learn to “control” it?
OK, back to my geeky ( “sciency” as Dorothy put it) self for just a minute. First Law of Thermodynamics – Energy can neither be created or destroyed, only altered in form. If passion is energy, then it cannot be destroyed. (I am stretching here, but bare with me) I think that as we grow older, many of us try to bottle up this energy. What I am starting to believe is that we are not as strong as we think we are. The energy leaks out in ways that we don’t recognize. It reveals itself in the form sarcasm, criticism, sour looks, arrogance, depression, anxiety, and many other “mature” outlets.
In Luke 18, Jesus gives us two principles back-to-back. One is the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector and the second is the “Let the children come to me” principle. Jesus is pretty clear that He would prefer that we be more like children than like the mature Pharisee. As I have grown older and wiser, I seem to be getting more Pharisee-like.
David was a man after Gods own heart, but even in the Psalms, he seems like such a little kid. Passionate…sometimes he whines, sometimes he exalts himself, sometimes he beats himself up and then other times he appears to get it. Then in the gospels, Jesus tells us to be like a little child. Is this I what he means? Passion, first love, childlike faith; God gave us emotion for a purpose. Certainly not for stability. I think it is what drives us. If I could harness that emotional energy and then let God direct me, wow, I could actually make an impact! Have I spent my entire life trying to hold back the energy God placed in me on purpose?
Now, how do I remove these self imposed fetters?