“In pain you shall bear children, yet your desire shall be for your husband.” Genesis 3:16 NRSV
“The person with a clear passion finds a reason to rise above their pain.”
My thoughts today are about “pain and passion.”
The verse today suggests a reality that every person will eventually face. In life, you will sometimes choose between following your pain, or following your passion. Life is not free of pain. That is the nature of your humanity and the fallen world in which you live. Life will inevitably cause you some pain.
“In pain, you shall bear children, yet your desire shall be for your husband.” Genesis 3:16 NRSV. A mother giving birth experiences the greatest physical pain anyone would willingly bear, as her choice, not imposed upon her. Why would she do so? Because of her love for her husband and a mother’s longing – a powerful passion – to see life birthed out of their love, and cradle a precious life in her arms and heart for a lifetime. The pain is forgotten in the joy of her passion.
The tragedy is that some people never get past the pain. They carry it, relive it, and hold tightly to it until it colors and shapes the rest of their lives. Tragically, they never find something for which to reach that is greater than their pain. It is easy to think that if you don’t care any more, you won’t hurt anymore. But you would be wrong. Pain cannot be totally ignored or avoided; it can, however, be replaced by a powerful passion.
Life can not be lived successfully and confidently without having and following your passion. I read these words, “When the longing for something is powerful enough, it can wipe out the pain of the past, making the wounded and weary rise again with renewed energy and purpose.” The person with a clear passion finds a reason to rise above their pain, or find healing for it, and then discovers the inner strength to pursue a greater desire. I have defined passion as the “ability to feel deeply and move boldly.”
A businessman or woman requires more of themselves – time, efforts, sacrifice – than anyone else could demand of them, willingly foregoing liberties and luxuries with which others may indulge themselves. It isn’t easy, but the passion for success, and the satisfaction of achievement, push them past their weariness and turn sacrifices into valuable investments for the future.
To fail to have a great enough and clear enough passion can leave you indifferent about the future and its limitless possibilities, in danger of accepting mediocrity and the dullness of the status quo for your life. Any time is a good time to release any hurts and disappointments and reach for something new and greater for your future. “For I know the plans I have for you. The Lord says . . to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29.11 NLT.
Paul had a passion for God that empowered his life from his first encounter with Christ. Pain? Plenty of it! Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 NIV. “That Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death . . I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection . . becoming like Him . . forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward.” Philippians 1:20-21/3:7-14 NIV. If any passion in life is not wrapped around your passion for God, the greatest success will be too little.
My prayer for you today is that you remain clear-eyed on your God-given destiny.