There are so many different definitions of Passion: a strong and barely controllable emotion; an intense, sexual love; an intense desire of enthusiasm for something; the suffering and death of Jesus…to name just a few.
What they all have in common is an energy, a creative force; call it the Spirit if you will, that inspires, enriches and draws people towards true integrity and wholeness of life.
If, like me, you profess a Christian faith, a question you may well be challenged to reflect upon is your passion. What inspires you? What draws you? What brings you life? What for you is energizing, life-giving? Your response to that may well take you further into exploration of some of those tricky questions that Christ himself was forever asking people : What do you want? What do you want me to do for you? Who do you say that I am?
For me it’s an ever- changing and ongoing process. What I have realised over the past ten years or so is how much a part creativity plays in helping me understand and work through what’s going on underneath my calm (What!? says my husband) exterior. I love colour, quirky creativeness, making connections and helping other people to do the same. I’ve grown to love art-journaling, as in my Journal 52 picture above, and grown to realise how much it helps me bypass the old internal censor. When I write, I can manipulate, control, hide behind a mask; restrict and stifle my true self . Creativity gives life ; quietly and gently allows me to peek out from behind the barriers I put up between myself and the world, leave behind what holds me and to take small steps towards living life in all its fullness.
And as we asked ourselves this morning in the final session of Let Your Life Shine – Live Lent , now that we’re moving through Passiontide and Holy Week: what might God be inviting us, corporately and individually, to let go of or leave behind? And how might this enable us to follow Christ’s example of love and service and in so doing discover life?
Wishing all fellow bloggers, readers (are there any?) artists, dreamers and pilgrims a safe and blessed journey through the following days until Easter. I’ll leave you with a link to a favourite piece of music: the Wir setzen uns mit tranen nieder bach from Bach’s St Matthew Passion. https://youtu.be/XzuctqOt1A8
Thank you for sharing the music link from Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion – gloriously inspiring.
Thank you. I hope to be sharing more as we move through Holy Week. Some of my favourite pieces of music fit into this time of year.