Passion - and then some

Passion.  In this time of Lent and Easter, we often talk about "The Passion of Christ".  But what is passion exactly?  We say we are passionate about things or people but, again, what does that entail?

I recently attended a piano concert here in town.  In between musical numbers, the pianist talked about his gift of music.  I watched as he valiantly tried to describe what he felt when he wrote music or played it.  He could not find the words to describe that "feeling" that enveloped him when he created.  He desperately tried to use vain words to convey to us how he felt about his music. He viscerally turned himself inside out trying to make us understand.  Passion is not something easily described.  It is something internal, guttural, personal, something that can't really be shared with others.  They can see the end result . . . beautiful music, in this case, but never know how it came to be.  I can never know what drives this man to write and play music.  I can enjoy it and appreciate it, but never understand the process or the passion it took to create it.

In some sense I feel similar things when I write.  I love words, the way they sound, what they express.  How is it that mankind can string together sounds that create meaning.  Not only words, but punctuation, to give those sounds impact.  Words have power - power to create or power to destroy.  We all take them for granted, but for some they are a gift which expresses their passion.

The Bible says that before there was anything, there was "The Word".  Doesn't that strike you as a little strange?  Why not have God first, or Christ, why the Word?  In the void of nothingness, there was the Word.  God knew he had to find a way in which to show us who He was, what better way than with His Word.  His Word which reveals his character, his desires, his love, his care for us, his ultimate creation that He loved more than life itself.

God is a creator.  He instilled a need to create in each of us.  What a superb gift to bestow upon your children!  I taught my children to be honest, upright, hard working people, but I did not teach them to create.  I can't.  That ability is God given.  When we "feel" passionate about something, it is not something we want to do, it is something we must do!

God gave me a love of words.  He also filled me with a passion to use them.  I teach.  Not because I want to, or because I am excellent at it, but it fills a need in me so deep that I have to do it or life would be without much of its meaning.  So I write and I teach, because that is what I have to do.  God created that hole in me that can only be filled by Him, His Word, and my love for Him.  He created and now I create.

So how does passion and Christ fit together?  I always thought of passion as a relatively good thing, but in Christ's case, it just doesn't seem to fit.  Or at least it didn't until I listened to the pianist.  Now I think I may have an inkling of understanding.  Christ loved so deeply, his passion for creation was so great, that He had to do the one thing He had been created specifically to do . . .  give his life so that we could spend ours in eternity.  He felt so much passion for His creation that He suffered unspeakable agony to bring it to fruition.  What he felt was beyond love, or concern, or caring, He pulled from his very being everything He had to become that perfect sacrifice for ME.  There is no way I can understand that.  I can't even fully appreciate it.  But what I will never do is take it for granted!

Consider passion during this week of Easter.  Do you have deep, gut wrenching passion about something in your life?  Have you even thought about it?  How do you express that passion?  Do others see your passion?  Do some pondering.  You may discover what you were created to do!

Happy Easter to all,

Just Writin' on the River Road