IT’S THE NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!!!
OK, technically it’s already January 12th, but still, we have a new year in front of us, full of potential opportunities, surprises, joys, disappointments, and everything else that makes up life. There’s something very enticing about the idea of being able to “start over,” especially if the previous year wasn’t such a great one.
That, of course, is another question: how does one determine the quality of a particular year? Outside of the few unlucky ones who suffered an entire year of only misfortunes or the few very lucky ones who enjoyed a year of only blessings, the rest of us in the real world experienced our share of both. How we evaluate those experiences, as well as how much weight we give to them, will vary from person to person. Some are able to see good in just about everything, while others are quite the opposite.
Sometimes, a single event or circumstance can cast a long shadow, effectively nullifying the positive or negative impact of other events in one’s life. This is something I can certainly relate to as I now close in on the end of my 3rd year of looking for full-time ministry work. Not to get too deep into that, because that’s not the point of this post, but prolonged failure of that sort can really have an effect on other experiences. Joys may not be as joyful; disappointments may be even more magnified. It’s difficult to really explain what it’s like to anyone who hasn’t experienced something comparable. Much like I did when the search first started, I still tell people, “It’s OK. Something will come up eventually.” Intellectually, I still believe that, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a bit harder with each passing day.
Enough of that for now, though. This is 2016! It’s a new start! This is that wonderful time of year when people make innumerable resolutions that they rarely ever keep for longer than a month or two! When I say “people,” I am certainly including myself. I’ve done the whole charade of making a list of the “things I want to change about myself” or “things I want to accomplish” in the new year, and within a very, VERY short period of time those lists are rendered moot for any number of reasons – laziness, lack of resources, lack of interest, and so on. It’s more demoralizing than anything, which is why I actually haven’t done it in a number of years.
This year, however, I want to change that. Not with a never-ending list of things I want to accomplish or things I want to change about myself, but with a single wish for the new year: I want to discover (or rediscover) a passion – ANY passion – in my life. I should note that I am talking about passion in a general sense, not passion in a strictly romantic sense (though that would be OK as well). I find that the things I feel passionate about and the times in which I feel passionate about them are very few and far between. It might seem odd that someone who strives to be a minister would talk about struggling with feeling passion – after all, shouldn’t you feel passionate about doing ministry work, or teaching, or preaching, or the Bible, or any number of other things? My answer would be: Yes, and at times I do feel passionate about the different aspects of ministry work, but that’s a rather simplistic view, in my opinion. For one, any passion can become muted when it is reduced to the level of mere routine, and that is all too common a problem for ministers, even part-time ones like myself. Passion also needs to be fed by others who share a similar passion – or ANY passion, for that matter. Just the mere fact that you are around others who have something in their lives that drives them, that fuels them, that gives them motivation – that can be very contagious. Sometimes in ministry, that’s not always the case. It’d be nice if everyone who was a minister and everyone to whom they ministered were always filled with a consuming passion for God and for the Gospel, but that’s just not the case. I’m not even saying they’re bad or wrong for not being that way; that’s mostly just an unfortunate side-effect of being human. I do think, however, that our lack of passion should demand more attention that it usually does.
Well, before this turns into too much of a rant, I would like to encourage any of the 3 people who read this blog to join with me in seeking to find more passion in their lives in the new year. I’m not really restricting myself as to where that passion manifests itself. I had originally thought that I wanted to try and rediscover a passion for reading, and I still might do that, but perhaps it’s better to try many new things and see what I naturally gravitate to. We shouldn’t limit ourselves to “things,” either – there are plenty of worthy causes or ideals out there to feel passionate about. What are some of the things/causes/ideals/etc. in your lives that you feel passionate about? Why are you so passionate about them? Does that passion wane at times? If so, how do you get it back? I’d love to hear anything and everything you all have to say about the passion you all have in your lives. Until then, Happy New Year and God bless you all!
Oh, and here’s one for the road:
Proper Irreverence 