“Passion can energize every aspect of a person’s life—including his talent.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell from his book, Beyond Talent (p. 35). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Do you really, really care about something?  Do You?

John says, “Have you ever known a person with great passion who lacked the energy to act on what mattered to her? I doubt it. A passionate person with limited talent will outperform a passive person who possesses greater talent. Why? Because passionate people act with boundless enthusiasm, and they just keep on going! Talent plus passion energizes.”

He goes on, “Loving what you do is the key that opens the door for achievement. When you don’t like what you’re doing, it really shows—no matter how hard you try to pretend it doesn’t. You can become like the little boy named Eddie whose grandmother was an opera lover. She had season tickets, and when Eddie turned eight, she decided to take him to a performance of Wagner—in German—as his birthday present. The next day, at his mother’s prompting, the child wrote the following in a thank-you note: ‘Dear Grandmother, Thank you for the birthday present. It is what I always wanted, but not very much. Love, Eddie.

“It’s difficult to achieve when you don’t have the desire to do so. That’s why passion is so important. There is a story about Socrates in which a proud and disdainful young man came to the philosopher and, with a smirk, said, ‘O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge.’

“Seeing the shallow and vain young man for what he was, Socrates led the young man down to the sea into waist-deep water. Then he said, ‘Tell me again what you want.’

“‘Knowledge,’ he responded with a smile.

“Socrates grabbed the young man by his shoulders and pushed him down under the water, holding him there for thirty seconds. ‘Now, what do you want?’

“‘Wisdom, O great Socrates,’ the young man sputtered.

“The philosopher pushed him under once again. When he let him up, he asked again, ‘What do you want?’

“‘Knowledge, O wise and . . . ,’ he managed to spit out before Socrates held him under again, this time even longer.

“‘What do you want?’ the old man asked as he let him up again. The younger man coughed and gasped. ‘Air!’ he screamed. ‘I need air!’

“‘When you want knowledge as much as you just wanted air, then you will get knowledge,’ the old man stated as he returned to shore.”

John then said, “The only way you can achieve anything of significance is to really want it. Passion provides that.”

God has built each one of us with a passion.  It is a part of His purpose for us.

Will you turn to Him and seek to live it out?

Yes, yes!