...chasing down the wind

pas-sion [pash-uhn] - noun
- any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling
- strong amorous feeling or desire
- a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything: a passion for music.
- the object of such a fondness or desire: Accuracy became a passion with him.
- an outburst of strong emotion or feeling
- the state of being acted upon or affected by something external

-excerpted from dictionary.com

Some people have said that I'm passionate. Probably from the way I speak in public. The sanguine-choleric mix in me. Factor in my melancholic traits and you'd understand some of the things I'm passionate about: from flying power kites to learning languages no one else around me knows, to needing to get just the right shot at just the right time in visual projection & video editing. As some people have also said - I can be quite... er... let's just call it extravagantly meticulous. ;)

Being passionate doesn't just stop at stuff we do but stuff we worry about, which cycles back to stuff we do and how we go about doing them. Will we finish all this work in time? How will we afford to drive so much with the petrol price so high? What will so-and-so think of us if we do this-and-that? Let's face it... many of us get pretty worked up inside about stuff like this. Sometimes, without even realizing it.

I'm recognizing more and more how the many strains of passions I experience & run after in life can really put a strain on how I live life. Like what Steven Curtis Chapman wrote in Magnificent Obsession -- "All this pursuing leaves me feeling like I'm chasing down the wind". Six years ago, the words of this song rang through me, right to the core of my convictions. Six years on, the words still ring true, striking chords in my spirit.

A line from an ING Insurance ad I caught recently at the cinemas managed to hit the same notes of those chords. "Have you ever wondered how much easier life is when you can concentrate on the things that matter?"

Lord, I don't want to be consumed by things that make me lose sight of You. Of who You are. Of what You can do. The fact is, You are GOD! And You are able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to Your power that is at work within us! (Eph 3:20) So let the power at work within me be Yours & the one great passion I pursue be You, my

Magnificent Obsession
by Steven Curtis Chapman

Lord, You know how much
I want to know so much
In the way of answers and explanations
I have cried and prayed
And still I seem to stay
In the middle of life’s complications
All this pursuing leaves me feeling
like I’m chasing down the wind
But now it’s brought me back to You
And I can see again

This is everything I want
This is everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
Everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for You, Jesus
Be my magnificent obsession

So capture my heart again
Take me to depths I’ve never been
Into the riches of Your grace and Your mercy
Return me to the cross
And let me be completely lost
In the wonder of the love
That You’ve shown me
Cut through these chains that tie me down
to so many lesser things
Let all my dreams fall to the ground
Until this one remains

You are everything I want
You are everything I need
I want You to be my one consuming passion
Everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for You, Jesus
Be my magnificent obsession