The Real Meaning of Passion

Well, good morning, afternoon, or evening, listeners. As always, I’m your host, Wanda Thibodeaux, and you’re listening to Faithful on the Clock, the podcast where I grind every coffee bean to stay awake and get your work and faith aligned. You’ve probably heard people talk about being passionate in business, so today I’m going to dive into what being passionate really means. The definition of the word “passion” that I’m gonna give you might make you rethink how you’re working or even the entire career you have. Let’s do it, everybody.

I gonna go out on a limb here, but I think you’d pretty much have to be living under a rock to not have heard somebody tell you to go get a job doing what you’re passionate about. And I’ll be clear as we start off today, I’m not arguing against that advice, OK? But if you don’t understand what being passionate even means, well, then how can you go get the job you have passion for? Right?

So, in the traditional or common way people use it, passion just means that you have a super high level of emotion for something, or that you care a ton about it. It means, you know, that you’re excited or energized, and that that excitement or energy isn’t gonna die off quickly. You’re gonna keep feeling excited and energized for the long haul, right? Or I’ve heard some people say that, when you’re passionate about something, you stay interested in it. So, it’s not just some passing fad or fancy. It’s gonna be with you years and decades down the road, maybe even your whole life. And what I want to point out here is that all of these angles on defining passion, they’re all really positive. They all focus on passion as being this joyful thing, and I think that’s part of why the “find what you’re passionate about” advice is so popular. It goes right along with this concept, you know, that positivity will deliver all of these good things to you, ergo, finding a job you’re passionate about is basically a ticket to joy, or, you know, all these good things.

But an old-school definition for passion is to suffer. That is the definition people use when they talk about the passion of Jesus, you know, that when He was on the cross, He had pain. And even before that, in the garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22:44 tells us, “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” And that is, to me, just ridiculously profound. But the idea I want you to see is this connection between distress and passion, OK? So, in this definition, passion is not pleasant. It’s not enjoyable.

So, now, let’s bring this back to your work context. It’s fine to look for work that excites you. You can still use that definition of passion, OK? But if you understand that the old definition of passion means to suffer, then what you begin to realize is that you also have to look for work that you are willing to be in some agony for. The question isn’t just what would make you happy. The question is, what would you be willing to walk on hot coals for? You know, what are you willing to struggle to finish, or what’s the work that, in an extreme circumstance, you’d even give your life for?

You might be saying to yourself, “Well, Wanda, that’s a little extreme, isn’t it?” I mean, we don’t usually associate death and, say, finishing some accounting. But I don’t think it’s that extreme. I mean, when the first astronauts went out into space, they knew they might not come back. Even today, with all our advances and precautions, that’s still a possibility. Or, you know, think about journalists or soldiers who go into war zones, or fishermen who go out on the sea who face monster killer waves only to go right back out on the water the next day. Or even today, in our political climate, we’ve got leaders being threatened every day. What gets people through those jobs is an internal drive that says, no matter how difficult things get, they’re gonna keep going, because they believe that much in what they’re trying to do.

Now, why does that matter? Because realistically, in any job, you’re gonna have some, well, crappy days, maybe even a crappy few months or a crappy year. And if you are not willing to persist through that, the inevitable thing is that you’re gonna quit. So, being passionate about something or about a type of work means that you aren’t just gonna turn tail the minute things get rough. You know, you’ll have enough grit that, when you have to dig your heels in, you can. And most people, they don’t like digging in like that. They wanna just walk on Easy Street all the time. But life is not perfect. It’s not always going to be easy. So, it’s the people who are passionate for their profession that persist through tough times. Those are the people who are gonna go the extra mile and get uncomfortable in ways that get other people to notice them.

So, let’s remember that God gives everybody different gifts. That’s what 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 talks about. And the way I see it, ideally, your gifts and passion ought to connect. So, if you have a gift for healing or communication or whatever, those things are going to come naturally, but you’re gonna be willing to get uncomfortable to succeed. You know, you watch a ballet dancer, and they have a natural ability that just flows out of them. But I’m telling you, ask them to take off their shoes. You’re gonna see some pretty nasty looking feet. I mean, it’s not unusual for a dancer to have bloody toes or even do a performance on a fracture, OK? And the point is — dance pun intended there — you have genuine passion, it goes along with sacrifice. And in my own life, as a musician, too, I remember, I’d be in the practice room instead of out at parties. I had friends in the music program who got carpal tunnel syndrome or who had blisters and calluses where their instruments would rest. And I lost a lot of sleep — like, a lot of sleep — working just to pay off my oboe loan.

That being said, I’m not saying everyone should go out and make themselves a martyr. I absolutely want you to take care of yourself as much as you can, all right? I just mean that genuine passion and high tolerance tend to go hand in hand. That drive inside of you is gonna be telling you to push just a little harder than most people would see as normal. It’s gonna tell you all the time you cannot quit. And you have to distinguish between passion and fear, too, right? Because it’s easy given the state of the world right now to say, “I can’t quit what I’m doing or all these bad things will happen.” That’s being scared. That’s what I think the corporate world feeds to us a lot, that you have to do all these things and compete all the time or you’ll end up in awful shape. But with passion, you say you can’t quit because you know if you do, you won’t really be free, or because the good vision you have for people or the world won’t manifest. Passion is always gonna fight the good fight in that way, whereas fear is just about self-preservation.

So, what I hope you’ll take away from this is that, if you’re not willing to suffer a little for what you do, you’re probably not passionate about it. And I want to be exceptionally clear that, a lot of the time, passion and money aren’t always gonna go together. We like to think they will, right? Gurus will tell you that if you’re passionate, you’ll be successful and make all this money, like passion opens some magic financial door. But I can tell you as a writer and musician, I am ridiculously passionate, OK, and I still don’t get the big paydays. And anybody who is in these industries is going to tell you making a living is hard. And the saying is that you don’t go into these fields unless you are passionate, because you absolutely have to be working for something other than money. You know, you do it for that freedom, that creativity and everything it brings to the world. Again, it’s that larger vision.

So, then, the encouragement is, please remember Matthew 6:19-24, where Jesus reminds us not to store up treasures on Earth. You know, all of the things you could earn for yourself, they’re not gonna have value in Heaven. And Hebrews 13:5 reminds us to be content with what we’ve got and be free of a love of money. And my thought here is, God gives you passion for a reason that’s bigger than wealth. It’s bigger than dollars and cents. So, when you’re considering what your passion is, don’t get so wrapped up in the pay grade. Just ask yourself if that’s the best way for you to serve God and give people some of the joy He wants us to have. Don’t worry about what other people say about what you love. Just thank God you have the gifts and drive you do and then just be who He made you to be.

So, with that, let me close out with a prayer.

Heavenly Father, when people hear the word “passion,” I know they usually think of incredibly positive things. But I pray now that they would keep in mind the passion of Jesus on the cross and understand that passion means being willing to fight and struggle for something of value. It’s not always gonna be easy. It’s not always gonna be fun. But it will always have meaning, and it will always allow us to share a little of who you are through the gifts You’ve given. Help us reflect on that as we seek good work and close today. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

That’s everything for this episode, everybody. Next week is another episode I don’t want you to miss, because it is episode 100 of Faithful on the Clock. That is just an amazing milestone, and I’d be honored to have you celebrate it with me. In the meantime, check out our website, faithfulontheclock.captivate.fm. You can listen to all our episodes there, sign up for our email list, and even hit the links to the social media accounts for the show. Until next time, listeners, be blessed.