While taking time to go through this book stuff on passion, I want to communicate with those of who realize that you are losing your zest for life. It may be due to the fact that you have overworked yourself and you are paying the price. You may be seeing the beginnings of what we call burnout. There are a number of symptoms of burnout and I want to share some with you. These include;-
1. Physical. ( Apparent bodily ailments )
2. Mental. (Thoughts )
3. Emotional. ( Feelings )
4. Social. (Relationships )
5. Spiritual. (Our relationship with God )
1: PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS.
Constant tiredness - an almost total exhaustion.
a. This is the situation where you are constantly and inexplicably exhausted. You are totally depleted both emotionally and physically. Everything you do is a major task, even what you used to enjoy.
b. Apathy and indifference with a diminished sense of responsibility.
Apathy is basically a mental state of indifference and lack of interest. You are not bothered whether things are going well or not. You are insensitive and people wonder what has come over you - you just float through the days.
c. Loss of creativity and concentration = poor productivity.
Because you cannot concentrate, you leave jobs half done. There is therefore a loss of creativity. Your inventive and imaginative powers are diminished. Clearly in such a situation, you can achieve little.
OVERCOMING
One of the best ways to overcome this situation is to take a recreation. And one of the best ways of recreation is to travel. Take a break from all the hustle. You may be doing something good for God but for God's sake what will you achieve further if you become a wreck? Learn how to use travel agencies. They give you some peace of mind by helping you concentrate on what is absolutely enjoyable on your trips. More tips will follow so you can recharge your passion.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
PASSION-THE SPARKPLUG OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT
PASSION – PART OF OUR MAKE UP
1. Passion -The Sparkplug of the Human Spirit
Sometimes we are prone to think that when Adam fell in the Garden of Eden and man lost his original estate, we actually lost everything we had from the image of God[i]. This is not so. The image of God is spiritual and man continues to be a spiritual being essentially. Romans 3:23 tells us “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. The word ‘short’ here means ‘to be inferior in power, influence and rank’. Our spiritual power, rank and influence diminished because of sin. Sin cut us off from our Source of power and influence - God. It does not mean man ceased to have a nature akin to the spiritual nature of God. The point here is that while we lost our place with God through “The Fall”, we maintained some aspects of His nature. Among the things maintained are the natural gifts, talents and the accompanying passions that make us excel in those gifts. Even those who are not born again through the salvation offered in Christ have natural gifts, talents and their own unique passions. Many non-believers in the Christian faith still perform excellently in many fields of human endeavour. Passion is part of our human constitution - a unique, non-physical ‘deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fingerprint’, which is part of the image we bear from the Heavenly Father. This Divine image is expressed through us in this life.
If there is any so-called ‘spark of God’ in the natural man, I believe it shows through our individual passions. We may refer to our passion as natural grace – grace to perform and achieve in the affairs of this life. German physicist and psychologist Georg C. Lichtenberg puts it like this; “Man is to be found in reason, God in the passions”. We can therefore refer to our passion as our ‘divine sparkplug’ that moves us on our way to success and fulfilment. This is because any true passion will fire your soul and cause you to do something. Just like a car cannot move without the spark - plug, it is hard for a man to get going in life without igniting himself through passion. By tapping into your passion, you release and deploy the immense potential of the human spirit for great works. Living out your passion is like releasing or unfettering the human spirit. Once the resources and potential of the human spirit are deployed, you are able to do things that defy the reasoning power of other humans. It becomes evident to all that this is a gift or talent from God.
2. Your Passion should point you to God
Our passions as human beings should make us aware of the God who puts these marvellous gifts in each of us. When we come to this realization, we would cease to use our passions to please ourselves, the world and the devil. We would rather submit ourselves to the One who created us in His own image and put this passion in our lives. We would also harness those very passions that drive us as tools to direct people to the One who bled to death on a cruel cross on Calvary in an act of supreme Passion.
For instance, Michael Jackson’s passion is music. Through his musical talent, he along with the other top pop stars like Whitney Houston, etc., influences the lives of millions of people in this world who want to fashion their lives after them. Their passion for music governs their charisma or the magnetic pull they hold over masses of people. People are prepared to pay any price to watch them perform, scream themselves hoarse and even do unspeakable things in their excitement.
Can you imagine what would happen if such people realize the passion running through them as God’s deposit in their lives and start to use it to spread the gospel instead of satisfying the flesh? We must however, not make the mistake, of demonizing every musician who does not sing gospel. The gift and passion they have for music is similar to those who sing gospel music. The only difference is that, while one group has chosen to submit their lives, gifts and passions to God, the other group, by their words and deeds, show that they owe no such allegiance to God or His Christ, but rather to themselves. Passion is a fundamental emotional desire but it is must operate from a Biblical perspective.
THE UNSTOPPABLE INSTINCT OF PASSION
This is the second instalment from my book 'Powered by Passion'.
Unstoppable Instinct
There used to be a male dog in my house that was not castrated. The wall of our house was a bit low. My brother advised that we raise it else, the dog would jump over it when it grew up. Initially, I ignored it. However, later the wall was raised by two levels of block. One day, I learnt the dog had been jumping over the wall at night. This was hard to believe because this dog was not that big.
However, I had my biggest shock one morning while praying. I thought I heard the thump of something that had fallen into the yard. When I turned to see, the dog had just jumped in after a night’s duty in town.
There was nothing I could do to stop the dog from jumping over the wall no matter how hard I tried. So, the question is what was the driving force or motivation that kept the dog going out, and that gave it the ability to jump over every barrier placed in its path?
I believe what kept this dog going was the passion or drive to reproduce itself and multiply, a passion to be fruitful and let its seed continue on earth - one of the most primordial passions. Absolutely nothing could stop this dog until it went one day and never came back. Again, the lesson is clear: true passion stops at nothing in its drive to achieve the goal desired. No barrier is high enough to stop a man or woman of passion from achieving set goals. This brings to mind some words of the song “Something inside so strong[i]“.
The farther you take my rights away
The faster I will run
You can deny me
You can decide
To turn your face away (your face away)
No matter, ‘cause there’s
Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it …
The drive to succeed and be fruitful in all we do is a very natural instinct. I am yet to see a man who literally walks in the reverse mode. In the image of God, we are designed to move forward and progress. Abraham Lincoln expressed this crisply when he said, “I walk slowly, but I never walk backward”. God has put in every man and woman the desire to be fruitful and multiply - the desire to succeed and break barriers, the desire to move forward in life. The barrier-breaking, new – frontier - seeking, adventurous spirit is a part of what humanity received from the Creator and nothing should be done to stifle its power in our lives.
The Bible says:
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Genesis 1:28 [Emphasis added]
The Trumpets of Passion: Our Lord Jesus Christ was a very passionate man and the most successful man in history. He was passionate about the mission God gave Him to fulfil. In fact, His sense of mission and passion for that mission manifested early in His life. It was like a mighty river in Him waiting to break its bounds to water and bless the barren places of humanity. In Luke 2:46-49, we read,
“And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. [47] And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. [48] And when they saw Him, they were amazed: and His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. [49] And He said unto them, how is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business”?
While His parents were going home, He was in the Temple asking and answering questions from the doctors of the law. The trumpets of passion for His mission were sounding in His soul, and He was beginning to take charge of His life. His answer shows that He knew the “Father’s business” for His life at the tender age of twelve and He was pursuing it.
Many of us never seem to know what the “Father’s business” is for our lives so we go round in circles. Even though the trumpets of passion do sound in our souls when we are young, it looks like few ever respond to the sound of those trumpets[ii]. Those who do respond to that sound however never regret. Others manage to hear and respond to the sound of this trumpet after seeking for satisfaction in so many areas. By the age of twenty-seven, Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh, who exemplified the idea of the artist as tortured genius, had been in turn a salesperson in an art gallery, a French tutor, a theological student, and an evangelist. Later, he found in art — through the charcoal drawings he made of the landscapes and people around him—the possibility of a new career[iii]. Like a homing pigeon, his artistic passion drew him until he settled as an artist and became the master of expressionism in art. Like Van Gogh, many of us spend many years as it were wondering in the ‘wilderness’ before turning to our true love. Interestingly, many of the world’s greatest stars and inventors discovered and pursued their passion when they were young.
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