Many of us have marveled at seeing someone who has discovered their passion. We see the energy and commitment that they pour into their area, their experience and expertise as they work with others, and a love for what they do that pervades every action. So how do we get to that point? How do we discover our passion?

Many of us will find it hard to relate to the ‘passion’ to our lives, but don’t let that word get in the way. When speaking about passion, we’re referring to our dream, burden, vision, or calling. Use whatever word works for you.

With some people, it’s relatively easy to identify their passion. For example, Billy Graham’s passion to reach the lost, or Mother Teresa’s calling to the needy. Their passion is where they invested their lives.

Identifying our passion is most helpful when we can be as specific as possible.. For example, Mother Teresa’s passion was for needy people, but specifically those in India, specifically those in Calcutta, specifically a certain part of the population in that city. Though her influence has been worldwide, her passion was very specific.

Passion is a deep longing to make a difference. Paul’s passion was to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, specifically, where Christ was not known (Gal. 1:15-16). Interestingly, the area that became Paul’s passion would have horrified him a few years earlier (when he was ‘pharisee among pharisees’). So we need to recognise that identifying our passion is an ongoing journey of discovery, not a one-off event.

The Willow Creek course, Network, has some helpful reminders about our passion:

Passion is God-given

It’s not something that we have to invent, but we need to discover what God has already placed within us.

There’s no right or wrong passion

Our passion will be unique and different from others. So don’t try and blend in.

Passion answers the question “WHERE should I serve?”

We all have a lot of gifts and skills, but we need to identify the areas where we need to invest those abilities.

When we’re working in our passion we’re energised, fulfilled, motivated. When we work outside those passions, it’s hard work—a ‘labour of love’, a duty or a responsibility.

Our passion can be:

• In a specific area or context (were we’d like to make a difference).
• Related to a specific group of people (children, teens, homeless, young mums, business owners).
• Related to specific causes or issues (prejudice, environment, hunger, social injustice).
• Revolve around certain functions (organising events, managing people, counselling, building systems).

When we start to identify our passions, it is helpful to lay aside the restrictions that we may feel eg. time, money, responsibilities, duties. We’ll need to consider the implications of following our passions later, but it is important that we keep an open mind as we seek to identify and understand our God-given passion. We need to bypass the internal objecives that we feel and tap into what really energises us. Forget the ‘whether’ or ‘how’ questions for now.

Here are some questions to help you take another step in your journey of discovery:

1. At the end of my life, what would I like to know that I’ve done something about?
2. If I could snap my fingers and know I couldn’t fail, what would I like to do?
3. What conversations keep me talking late into the night?
4. Write down five positive experiences. Why were these so meaningful to me?