Passion (a compelling, a powerful emotion of love and delight) never allows you to see yourself as a failure. Everything is useful in our development. Mistakes, humiliations, defeats and obstacles are as valuable as success, achievement, victory and breakthrough. Passion wastes nothing. Passion always learns and always overcomes. Passion is belief in action.
What if failure has nothing to do with passion? What if failure is only tied to goals and ambitions that are not a part of our identity or Destiny? We fail when we fall short of a specific goal.
What if passion doesn’t require specific goals? What if it is so much more powerful than that? Passion is about how we live in our hearts, each day. Passion gives us focus… not just on where we are going but the manner in which we get there. Passion loves the journey! Goals are all about destination and outcome. Focus will make sure we arrive; Passion will get us there in the best possible shape because we will have thoroughly enjoyed the journey with all its twists and turns.
If all we have are goals, we may not make it. We will use a ruthless determination rather than passion. If we do make it, we will leave a trail of discarded people, broken promises and distress behind us. Passion arrives whole in nature, having enjoyed the journey. Passion allows us to travel differently. Passion and focus allow us to build trust and faith. Passion and focus develop confidence. They open us up to see the prophetic. They provide rest and security that allow us to see the invisible, become aware of all the possibilities around us, and take risks happily in Jesus’ name.
Ambition and goals can make us self-centered. Passion and focus allow us to include others on our journey. Often God has brought others into my life so that he can help them through me. My passion was focused on helping them and they prospered, and so did I! Passion and focus help us to sow and reap. As I gave, I grew. Being outward looking, including other people in my focus became a shortcut for me to experience his fullness.
Passion and focus enable us to enjoy each and every day and each and every circumstance. We learn to love the hand of God upon our life. This kind of living empowers us to grow up. Every day is exciting. We grow in grace and favor. We practice our peace, we love our life, and we enjoy the journey.
Ambition and goals require great mental strength. They demand that we live with blinkers to narrow our vision so that all we can see is the goal. We live from our head not our hearts. We get tougher so we can stay the course longer.
For every person who achieves their goal there are tens of thousands who don’t. Ambition and goals suck the enjoyment of living now, out of us. Only the mentally strong can live that way. Study the lives of ambitious people and you will mostly discover a story of pain and loss. They arrive at the top, broken and devoid of joy, peace, and loving relationships.
To arrive at the top is one thing…. to stay there demands more ruthless determination and an iron will. These people are powerful but not enjoyable. Their destructive tendencies will continue to use people. To avoid failure, they may choose to do anything…. illegal, evasive, or unpalatable. Lives can be fraudulent when we see people merely as objects to serve us or obstacles that prevent us from achieving our goals. Ambition can kill. Passion creates life.
What passions have you ignored in your development as a person?
What goals have you made and how do they relate to the real you that you were created to be?
If you do not fit into the world that you have allowed to form you, maybe it’s time to think again?