There is a lot of digital ink spilled encouraging people to follow or not follow their passion. It is the stuff of graduation speeches and fodder for motivational memes. I was told mixed messages. I should follow my passion because this might be what God is calling me to do and that my passion is evidence of my gifts and graces. I have also been told that my passions are really better suited for hobbies not employment.
Guitar man
We laud passionate people. We find their convictions intoxicating and we are in awe of those who are passionate when they speak or sing or preform. We have a love/hate relationship with passion, but by and large it is an ingredient for thriving.
Maybe.
Rather than add to the conversation about if we should or should not follow our passion, I want to encourage us to think beyond passion to something else that is better suited to guide our lives and build up the common good.
Follow your compassion.
Passion is the seductive internal fire that does not necessarily draw us toward another person. Compassion is the ability to suffer with another which requires us to move toward another. If we follow the compassion not only will we move toward another but we also discover what God is calling us to do and be. If you are struggling to know what God is calling you to do or be, your compassion is a better indicator than your passion.
We have seen people who are consumed by passion. They lose all sense of themselves and their impacts on others all in the name of “following their passion.” Passion can consume you; it conquers.
Compassion does not consume but it can only exist if it assumes. Compassion must assume human action or the compassion does not exist. Passion exists on its own, even without action. Compassion only can exist with the action of another. I can have a passion for music without ever learning to play an instrument. Conversely, compassion moves us to be instruments (of peace, mercy, kindness, etc.)
There is a place for passion, but let us get beyond passion and into the land of compassion.
The land of passion is overpopulated anyway.
Valendy Thumb
Rev. Jason Valendy
The Rev. Jason Valendy, along with his wife the Rev. Estee Valendy, serves as co-pastor of Saginaw United Methodist Church in Saginaw, Texas. This post is republished with permission from the author's blog JasonValendy.net.