“Find your passion.” I’ve been hearing those words for years on end, ever since I began the journey into Making Big Life Decisions—what to study in school, what career to pursue, what activities to get involved with. But I can hardly remember someone defining what that vague, nebulous word meant. Passion. Find it, and then dedicate your life to it, they say, implying we are each created for some unique purpose that must be discovered, pursued, and perfected. Some lifestyles and careers are immediately associated with the concept: social workers, missionaries, artists, doctors. If passion colored a circle around a set of occupations, these would be dead center, bright orange. Floating in the white space outside we might find janitors, fast food workers, and 9-to-5 office people. And so many of us are taught that chasing what we love is a prerequisite to a full life.
Yet, pragmatism finds a voice in our world too. Perhaps echoing in the concerned tone of a parent, or dropping on us like a hammer when the reality of jobless, penniless living sinks in like claws. When painting flowers and philosophy can’t attract any cash flow, the scales slide from passion to pragmatism. In one sense, it’s almost a rite of passage for entering adulthood. We see the few friends who defy that norm, traveling the world or starting a business and generally living the good life. But for most, it’s a passage into tiresome day jobs, driven by a need to make a living and put some semblance of food on the table. The first paycheck inspires a heady thrill of excitement and independence. A couple more, and we’re asking, Is this all? Is this the rest of life?
And passion begins to speak again. “Don’t spend your life just getting by.”
“We are all called to find and do our life’s work.”
But passion is a privilege, simply put. Few can afford to drop a steady job, an income to pay the bills, to undertake a risky venture for the sake of “doing what they love.” (Certainly, some can, and succeed, and some should. But by and large, it’s implausible for most, and often irresponsible.) Someone has to do the job you don’t want—someone has to drill the fences and scrub the toilets. Most of the world is living for survival, not for dreams. It is those who are blessed with abundance and don’t fear for providing the next meal that grow agitated and begin thinking of doing something greater, more impactful, and more transformative.
The desire is not wrong; in fact, I think it’s a good and beautiful thing. But we often channel it into the wrong objects and seek fulfillment in the wrong places. And we run up against the troubling tension between passion and pragmatism, the core of which stems from brokenness. The brokenness of our world, and the brokenness of the human race. Imagine work in a sinless world. For one, entire industries would collapse out of superfluity—law enforcement, security, and the like. There is our own, personal brokenness to contend with too. We are naturally lovers of self-glory, and the unglamorous, unseen jobs are found wanting. Even the pursuit of service to others can be a veil for selfish ambition and recognition.
How then, do we channel our thirst for chasing that undefined, glint of a dream on the horizon? The thing that we can’t put into clear words, and yet strikes a match beneath our hearts?
Passion is inconstant, because we are fickle and lazy people. One day it sets us on fire, and another, it’s been snuffed out by gray skies or a minor headache. Can we set our eyes and life on such a capricious concept? It seems a dangerous thing. This is not to throw my hat in the ring for fatalism, passively awaiting whatever comes down the pipe. Yet neither do I believe we should chase every whim, captained by our emotions. Again, it is a tension we must hold: to pursue, and to accept; to speak up, and to submit; to fight, and to surrender. There is a time for everything. But I think it is wisdom, not passion, who will speak best in how to do that.
We are made for a life of chasing loftier things, but that may be packaged in either prosperous or humble appearances.
I was 15% of the way through this book (I’m reading on a Kindle, hence the % instead of the page number), and for a 1,000 page tome, that meant over 100 pages. If I shelved it for now, I’d forget the plot and be forced to start from the beginning. Or I could trudge on and keep reading and hope that I’d fall in love in the next, oh, 900 pages. I hopped onto Goodreads and read raving reviews for encouragement.
Mercy and justice are not opposites, but they often find themselves at odds, particularly in the justice system. The tension between the two, between gracious love and rigid law, is a core conflict in so many stories. Recently, I’ve developed a penchant for legal dramas (by which, I mean Suits and The Good Wife) and I can’t help but notice this theme replaying itself. Suits has a spectacular ensemble cast, and I’ve grown to love each of the characters: their quirks, wit, heroics and vulnerabilities. I cheer when they win, when they beat their enemies, when they have their moments of glory. I ache when they ache. (And yes, I realize I may be overly emotionally invested.) But let’s be honest – all of my favorite characters are basically crooks. By the law, they deserve to be thrown into prison.
Yes, it’s one of Those Things every guy and his brother does: the daily / weekly / monthly roundups, or highlights. With the new year and all, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon before it wheeled away into the horizon. Who knows what this will evolve into, but you can probably expect linkups to all things literature & writing, Christian pieces, tech articles, and delicious food recipes. “These are a few of my favorite things…”
I think we are all secretly in search of the silver bullet. The cure-all, magical solution that makes us masters of our field, victors over our habitual struggles, at the snap of our fingers. We laugh at the idea publicly, but we still can’t resist those articles – “Do this 1 thing and transform…” or “The foolproof 3 step process to…” Oh, how those deceptively small numbers win us over. Unfortunately, nothing truly rewarding has a quick and easy fix, just hiding in a corner we haven’t searched yet. The same goes for writing. Hard work, sweat, and discipline lie at the core of the craft. Unpopular traits for lazy humans.
Pen and Fire 