Are you passionate?

In one of my favorite movies, Serendipity, starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack, there is a line quoted by one of the characters who wrote Obituaries for the NYTimes saying, "You know, the Greeks didn't write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died--Did he have passion?"

The movie isn't super serious, it's fun, lighthearted, romantic, etc. But I've always really liked that line, because honestly, it has a lot of truth to it. How many people spend months, days, even years of their lives doing things and working jobs that they don't enjoy, where there is no passion in it for them?

I know that for the majority of people out there, you don't always get to work your dream job. Sometimes, for the sake of making ends meet and paying your bills, you have to work a job that might not be your favorite until you can get something else lined up.Understandable, yet still, at the end of it, that saying still rings true.

Did you have passion? Did you do something with your life that you enjoyed? Did it impact others in a beneficial way? Was it something that you chose to do for the wrong reasons, even with good intentions? Or was it something that God asked you and called you to do?

I think that once you get past some of the rough,beginning stages in Careerland, there is a job out there for everyone that they are truly passionate about, something that they will put their heart into, and work so hard at it that it will be a benefit and a blessing, not only to those they come in contact with, but also themselves.
I also truly believe and feel that I've found that thing that I am passionate about. I love teaching, specifically preschool aged kids, but also elementary school. Even though I already know how much I love it, there are some days when it just seriously hits me more then others how passionate I am about it, and how blessed I am to be able to do it.

Like today. I've been working with the KidsTime program at my mom's church since I was old enough to volunteer in the 5th grade, and I've worked with these kids, often from some of the same families, for years of my life. I usually work in nursery, or else preschool. I've literally watched them grow up. But this summer I've been working with older kids in elementary school, many of whom were part of the first groups that passed under my care when I first started volunteering. During the third hour at church on Sundays the kids have their own worship hour. Today is the last Sunday that I really got to work with them before moving back to Wyoming, and even though I'll be back in the area to visit family occasionally, I won't be volunteering there anymore. So standing there, looking at these kids who I've taught, held, babysat, and helped take care of for the last several years of my life--seeing them seriously growing, not only physically, but also spiritually, singing worship songs at the top of their voices, some of them taking communion--I surprisingly got emotional, and was actually blinking back tears.

My job is hard work, yet it is something that I typically always enjoy, even on the most hectic or difficult days. Yet, just like with any job, there are just some days that really hit you and remind you of how much you love it, and how blessed you are to get to do it--days that remind you of why you are so passionate about it. And today was just one of those days.

Do you have passion?