Passion
Someone asked me yesterday what my purpose and passion in life was. To me the answer was simple, my purpose is to live, my passion is to help other people live. Not live as in breathing, live as in living. We all are breathing but few have the courage to live. Then the question became, do I think everyone has a purpose and passion. I can't speak about passion but I am confident we all have a purpose.
Let's explore life for just a moment. To do this I need your attention because I am going to get in your head. Where do you think living begins? Not life silly, living. I, like many of you had a routine life. I worked, I provided for my family, went to church, got involved in school and community projects, and did some neighborhood fund raisers with other families. Life was good. But was I living? Sure, I was happy being a cookie cutter dad. My norms in life provided no time to live on the edge, to feel the adrenaline I had as a kid, to be wild and crazy. I mean, come on, I was a dad, a husband, a steward of the family. That all changed when I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer. Now life had a new meaning. Now I wanted to live. I didn't necessarily want to give up my cookie cutter life but I sure as heck wanted to live on the edge while I could.
The point is this, why does it take those definitive moments in life to teach us to live. We were not born domesticated, we were born to be wild. Think about animals at the zoo that are born into captivity. Their norm is not what they were originally created to be. Yes we were born with heart, soul, and emotion. We were born to be good stewards of our globe but we were not born to conform.
Does your life have a purpose? Yes in fact it does. We all have a purpose and it is to make the most out of our lives so everyone else can make the most out of theirs. None of us have to do huge amounts of great things we just all need to do small amounts of something that provides our world with hope. Once you understand life you can start living, and once you genuinely start living your individual passion will become crystal clear.
God places in us the ability to have life but God does not give us the courage and will to live. Before you get defensive give thought to what I am saying. To often I hear people say that they are being patient, waiting for God to show them the way. God is not going to show the way it is up to you to pave the way. You can't get caught up in the natural order of life and death to the point you stop living. We are all going to die, some of us will suffer more than others, some will live long lives some will live short lives. This is not a planned manifestation of God it is simply life. Once you fully grasp that you can start the process of living.
God is a God of love thank goodness. We were not created to be dictated, we were created to be original. There is no master plan that we are aware of, which means it is up to us to utilize our lives to the best of our ability, and our ability is much more than you think it is. When people tell you something is impossible go hang out with people that are making the impossible a reality. God created us with the unique ability to make good things great. Consider an out of shape person that decides to train for a marathon. If you are overweight out of shape running 26 miles is a pipe dream or a nightmare. But the truth is we can all do it. Remember you do not have to be great to finish but you do have to start to be great. You train by getting started, by running a few feet, then a few yards, and before you know it you are standing at the starting line of your first marathon. You have a purpose, and once you embrace the purpose your passion for life will bring out the wild at heart you thought died years ago.
I think the real question in all this is how do you break free of the years and generations of bondage that has held us back. I am going to share a little from scripture and those of you that know me know this is my favorite passage. The story of Lazarus in John's Gospel. I want to fast forward to the end when Jesus is standing at the tomb. He tells the crowd to remove the stone. One says to him "teacher he has been dead for four days there will surely be a stench". Let me pause here and ask, how long have you been dead? How much do you stink from rotting from the inside out.
Once the people roll the stone away Jesus says to the dead man "come out" and scripture tells us that Lazarus came out still bound head to toe in burial cloth. Think about that for a moment. Even though you desire to start a new life are you still bound head to toe with your old life.
The last and most important message in this is when Jesus turns to the crowd and says "UNBIND THAT MAN". Friends if we are to have life we have to unbind those we hold bound. Not bound by ropes and chains but bound by conformity. The greatest thing we can ever do as individuals is to live the life we were given. We can't live our dreams through others, and we can't live anyone else's life for them. Our purpose is to live and once we fully embrace that our passion will become a reality.
I choose life today, and I hope you do too
peace to you
Dale
Let's explore life for just a moment. To do this I need your attention because I am going to get in your head. Where do you think living begins? Not life silly, living. I, like many of you had a routine life. I worked, I provided for my family, went to church, got involved in school and community projects, and did some neighborhood fund raisers with other families. Life was good. But was I living? Sure, I was happy being a cookie cutter dad. My norms in life provided no time to live on the edge, to feel the adrenaline I had as a kid, to be wild and crazy. I mean, come on, I was a dad, a husband, a steward of the family. That all changed when I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer. Now life had a new meaning. Now I wanted to live. I didn't necessarily want to give up my cookie cutter life but I sure as heck wanted to live on the edge while I could.
The point is this, why does it take those definitive moments in life to teach us to live. We were not born domesticated, we were born to be wild. Think about animals at the zoo that are born into captivity. Their norm is not what they were originally created to be. Yes we were born with heart, soul, and emotion. We were born to be good stewards of our globe but we were not born to conform.
Does your life have a purpose? Yes in fact it does. We all have a purpose and it is to make the most out of our lives so everyone else can make the most out of theirs. None of us have to do huge amounts of great things we just all need to do small amounts of something that provides our world with hope. Once you understand life you can start living, and once you genuinely start living your individual passion will become crystal clear.
God places in us the ability to have life but God does not give us the courage and will to live. Before you get defensive give thought to what I am saying. To often I hear people say that they are being patient, waiting for God to show them the way. God is not going to show the way it is up to you to pave the way. You can't get caught up in the natural order of life and death to the point you stop living. We are all going to die, some of us will suffer more than others, some will live long lives some will live short lives. This is not a planned manifestation of God it is simply life. Once you fully grasp that you can start the process of living.
God is a God of love thank goodness. We were not created to be dictated, we were created to be original. There is no master plan that we are aware of, which means it is up to us to utilize our lives to the best of our ability, and our ability is much more than you think it is. When people tell you something is impossible go hang out with people that are making the impossible a reality. God created us with the unique ability to make good things great. Consider an out of shape person that decides to train for a marathon. If you are overweight out of shape running 26 miles is a pipe dream or a nightmare. But the truth is we can all do it. Remember you do not have to be great to finish but you do have to start to be great. You train by getting started, by running a few feet, then a few yards, and before you know it you are standing at the starting line of your first marathon. You have a purpose, and once you embrace the purpose your passion for life will bring out the wild at heart you thought died years ago.
I think the real question in all this is how do you break free of the years and generations of bondage that has held us back. I am going to share a little from scripture and those of you that know me know this is my favorite passage. The story of Lazarus in John's Gospel. I want to fast forward to the end when Jesus is standing at the tomb. He tells the crowd to remove the stone. One says to him "teacher he has been dead for four days there will surely be a stench". Let me pause here and ask, how long have you been dead? How much do you stink from rotting from the inside out.
Once the people roll the stone away Jesus says to the dead man "come out" and scripture tells us that Lazarus came out still bound head to toe in burial cloth. Think about that for a moment. Even though you desire to start a new life are you still bound head to toe with your old life.
The last and most important message in this is when Jesus turns to the crowd and says "UNBIND THAT MAN". Friends if we are to have life we have to unbind those we hold bound. Not bound by ropes and chains but bound by conformity. The greatest thing we can ever do as individuals is to live the life we were given. We can't live our dreams through others, and we can't live anyone else's life for them. Our purpose is to live and once we fully embrace that our passion will become a reality.
I choose life today, and I hope you do too
peace to you
Dale
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