Passion

I've always thought it was important to have passion. Whether thats passion for a cause, passion for people or passion for an activity. People who are passionate about something are engaging, interesting, and energizing, because they've found something bigger than themselves to love.

To me, I'm passionate about my faith, my artistic and theatrical endeavors, and making the world a better place. But what exactly does it mean to be passionate about something? Is it simply to love something to an exuberant amount?

As Easter was a week ago, I've been reflecting on the way christianity portrays the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The crucifixion is usually called the Passion of Christ. Why passion? This word is clearly being used in context that I don't usually associate with passion. So I looked up the etymological roots of the word.

Passion comes from the latin word passus which is the past participle of the word pat, which means to suffer. The Passion of Christ refers to Jesus's suffering. Yet, Jesus suffered out of love for the broken world. With this new definition passion becomes a mix of love and suffering. To be passionate about something must mean you love it enough to suffer for it.

So what are you willing to suffer for? What are your passions?