Passion: All of us want it, all of us have it.

I'm wondering. When was the last time you asked yourself "What am I passionate about and how do I lean into what I'm naturally passionate about"?If you're like me, you ask yourself that every single day.  Now, I'm not saying you are all like me, but I'm sure that doing what you're passionate about has crossed your mind more than once.  So here's the other big question: What ARE you passionate about?God created each of us with a unique set of talents, gifts, passions, and qualities.  No one, and i mean NO ONE was born with no talent, no gifts, no passion and no unique qualities. No one. Psalm 139:14 NIV tells us,

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

If we all agree that this is true and you have been wonderfully made, what is the unique passion that God has placed in your heart?For me it's 2 things: Family and music.  My passion for family stems from my childhood.  I was adopted at the age of 4 from Christian Family Services of St. Louis.  I knew even at 4 it was going to take a lot of hard work to make sure that the family that I was going to create was one of heart level love, deeply genuine authenticity and transparency and unconditional acceptance with no judgement.Then there is music, it has always been playing in my soul.  I hear music in every corner of my life.  When my son runs up and hugs me, I hear music.  When I lost my job, I heard music.  When I kiss my wife, I hear music.  God placed music in my being and I am naturally passionate about it.All of this is well and good but I'm still interested in what you are passionate about. Can you identify the thing that God has placed in you that makes you passionate about something?  I wonder, can we take the things we are naturally passionate about and turn those into gifts we give to the people in our lives including our church families?  I am willing to stake that our churches would see a drastic increase in the amount of passion flowing within and outside the walls of our home congregations/churches/families.Passion cannot be fabricated.  It cannot be faked. Passion requires authenticity. It requires selfless movement.  It requires the kind of passion that was displayed by Jesus. Maybe, just maybe, what you heard when I said it requires the passion displayed by Jesus, you heard it had to be perfect but that is not what was meant, I meant that it has to be pure, not perfect.  It has to flow from you in a way that this pure, authentic, and real.  It calls for us to burn our judgements.  It calls out to us and won't leave us alone. Whatever that thing is for you, grab onto it.  Embrace it.  Share it. And return all the praise to God, from whom all blessings and passion flow.Grace and Peace-Sean Algaier