Desire this...

Napoleon Hill once said, "The starting point of all achievement is desire." He didn't imply it was merely the desire that got us to the point of achievement, but that desire (passion) fuels us, moves us forward, gets us off the starting block, so to speak. desire is a powerful tool, but must be used carefully for it can either move us ahead in purposeful and ordered movement, or it can launch us into the unknown with little to no control over our trajectory! I would like to believe every Christian is certain of their desire, but I must be honest here - even my own desire gets a little out of whack on occasion! It needs constant filtering, frequent readjusting, and an enormous amount of work on the part of the Holy Spirit in my life because left to my own devices, those desires will be less than "desirable"!

Whoever pulls away from others to focus solely on his own desires disregards any sense of sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1 VOICE) 

For all my wanting, I don’t have anyone but You in heaven. There is nothing on earth that I desire other than You. (Psalm 73:25 VOICE)

For all our wanting...

We all "want" something, don't we? We have desires - some secretly held close to the heart, while others are boldly proclaimed for all to know and see.  Those we hold closest to our heart are the ones we may want to take the closest look at because they are either held secret because we are afraid to admit them to anyone, or they may be something we don't want to admit we desire!  One gets us launched down the wrong path - the other, if never really explored and acted upon will never get us moving, but will create a sense of dissatisfaction within us.

There is something amazing which happens when we begin to articulate our desires.  We often find that when we "say" them, we begin to see them more clearly - there is a chance to refine them, build upon them, or even to begin to see them as perhaps not the ones we want to build upon at all. I am a strong proponent of not keeping desire bottled up - it needs to be expressed, but not always fulfilled!  There are just some desires which are not meant to be fulfilled at the moment because the timing isn't right, the conditions are not met that would make it "right" or "safe" to take those actions, etc.  This doesn't make the desire "bad" or one to be "rejected".  It may mean the desire is one which is just not going to find fulfillment in this moment.

I paired these two passages today for us to consider side-by-side. When God becomes our primary desire, all others begin to be "ordered" or "sorted out" in right order. Whenever we think we can pull away from those he has put in our lives as friends and companions in this journey, to pursue our own desires, we get ourselves wrapped up in desires which may not always produce the best of outcomes for us. We are given community (relationship) with other believers because God's "desire" is for us to not have to sort this all out on our own - he gives us these "walking partners" so we will may begin to see what we have secretly held closest to our heart and then begin to let go of the stuff which doesn't really belong there!

Don't disregard the power of your passion.  Don't disrespect the power of your "walking companions" in helping you sort out those passions so that you begin to see them clearly. Remember this - the eyes of another are not searching "glasses", but rather "reflective mirrors" of that which we may just not see without them!  Just sayin!