Had a great weekend. Friday night I met a bunch of women who home school.
Not all were Catholic. Not all were white. Not all were Amish-like.
It was nice! We discussed curriculum.
I didn't have much to offer considering
I haven't been very happy with my curriculum.
I got a LOT of helpful advice/tips.
Most of all I gained something I've been lacking of late. Hope.
Lately, I've been feeling like there's no place I "fit in" in this world.
I'm too "wacky" for the strictest conservative Catholic moms,
and too "weird" for the mainstream
American moms here in suburbia.
Where exactly does a Jesus adoring, JPII loving,
homeschooling, open to life NFP practicing,
jean wearing, formerly smoking, Nickleback listening,
Seinfeld watching, pro-life, scapular wearing,
loud mouthed, middle class suburbanite belong?
It seems I might have just found my niche!
The ladies I met on Friday weren't "just like me"
but they did have a very necessary ingredient
- they didn't take themselves so seriously!
That, and many of my comments, stories
produced laughter not strange looks or mild condemnation
which have been known to occur in the past.
Ah, to be able to let your hair down a little
in the company of others....what a blessing!
Mom and dad spent the night on Friday to babysit.
Saturday Tim and I went to a matinee to see Spiderman 3!
It was great. Sunday we went to mom and dad's to pick up
the rest of our gang who had spent the night over at their house.
All in all it was a nice weekend. Most importantly,
for me at least, was meeting those women on Friday.
If nothing else I learned that there ARE other people out there
with purpose and passion (and humor). Far too many
good people lack purpose and passion in their lives.
They work hard, cut their grass, go to little league games,
pay their bills, help their neighbors out, and may even attend
some kind of church service now and then.
But without purpose and passion life is not complete.
You may live a "full life" by the world's standards but
all the while be feeling kind of empty deep inside.
Some may say that they have purpose in their life.
I believe them. But both purpose AND passion are required.
I know many who go beyond the normal "good citizen" requirements
and go to mass and pray for their families. They sacrifice worldly
comforts for higher purposes. But that's only half the story.
Passion! Passion is what is so lacking today.
This world needs it desperately.
We have far too many people living their lives
filled with passion without PURPOSE!
Liberals are for the most part all passion and no purpose.
Secular humanists are all passion no purpose.
Hedonists and pleasure gluttons are prime examples too.
Many in the "purpose driven life" camp may
look over at the passion without purpose camp and say
Hey! they're havin' a hell of a lot more fun over there...
This is why those with purpose MUST have PASSION!
If Jesus truly is the center of our lives then we must live it! Shout it!
If we have purpose in our lives then live it out with passion.
If we have the Truth. If Jesus is real and all that
stuff the priest tells us at mass on Sunday matters - really matters.
Then be joyful! Laugh. Smile. Take a stand. State your positions.
Be bold. Be on fire. Be a light! Don't just go through the motions.
To those who much is given, much is expected.
We are called to be great.
Not average.
And so, it fortified me to meet a group of women
with purpose and passion on Friday. They are not the first group
of people I have met who live life with both but
I have found that lightheartedness and humor can
often get lost in the mix. I have been victim to this myself.
Sometimes our passion for our purpose leads us into battles.
This is good. We are His soldiers of course!
But all that fighting, constant swimming upstream,
"going against the grain" can leave you humorless.
This is the one danger of a life lived with purpose and passion.
I must remember to always take my purpose, my calling
seriously. I must take seriously my obligation to maintain passion
- to keep that fire burning. But never, in the process,
take MYSELF too seriously. Life is such a blessing.
Life is far too important to be spent scowling at the world
and brooding over injuries. So I try to fight the good fight
and then laugh at all my awkward moves.
Friday night I met some fellow battle scarred warriors who
could sit around our encampment and tell
funny stories and laugh at all their missteps from the battles
they've been in.
Purpose, Passion, (and Humor too!)
Thank God!
2 comments:
Passion, I think, is the second most misunderstood word in the English language... following "love."
By "love," most erroneously think "strong affection," or "sex" is meant.
By "passion," most mean "strong feeling" or "fervent commitment." And, again, some mean "sex."
The Early Fathers of the Church, on the other hand, have a generally negative and more useful definition of the term "passion."
The passions are that which assault us - that which we must endure (compare to the word "passive"). They are products of our fallen nature - perhaps with a good original purpose now corrupted - that lead us into a life of sin. They must be transformed or eradicated to bring us to life in Christ.
Dispassion, the Early Fathers teach us, should be our goal.
I just checked my Fr. john Harden Catholic dictionary and you are most definitely right about the actual definition of "passion".
But I'd like to explain my thoughts on the word here.
"Intense motion(instigation/suggestion) of the human appetite." is the first sentence in Fr. Hardon's Catholic dictionary under the word "passion.
How could I disagree with Fr. Hardon? The Holy Church? I can't.
Another negative associated with the word is that these instigations of the human appetite are "out of control". They can often "control" us!
I understand all this well. Really I do.
But I like to apply the word "passion" and "passionate" etc. in light of a spiritual drive.
A spiritual thirst or drive or hunger that far surpasses any human hunger or drive is the root of MY use of the word "passion".
"An intense motion of the spiritual appetite" you might say. And the "out of control" nature of "passion"? Well, in my use that's just as well applied to the uncontrollable urges of the Holy Spirit one feels at times. It can be as if you literally "can't control yourself" from thinkng about God, talking about Him or leaping for joy of knowing Him.
It's like being in that first "young love" state I remember...yet drastically different too...but one thing remains - the passion!
A love affair with Jesus and all things of Him, for Him and from Him! He's swept me off my feet and I'm a girl who's filled with purpose and passion - for my God!
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