Storm is a character in my mind.

No, not so much a character as a caricature, an icon, an archetype.

I occasionally meet Storm in the real world. Storm is sometimes male, sometimes female.

You’ve met Storm, too.

Storm is easily infatuated. 

Storm is in love with Love. 

Storm talks a lot about passion.

But Storm is a rabbit, a mouse who runs at the first sign of difficulty or hardship.

Don’t tell me what you are passionate about, Storm. Show me.

Storm, I am old. I have lived many lives and I can tell you with certainty that commitment is the only true form of passion.

Passion is not a feeling of fluffy-headed excitement. Passion is suffering. My friend Manley Miller taught me this.

Passion comes from the Latin word “Pati,” the root word of Patience. We think of patience as an ability to wait. But patience, more accurately, is an ability to suffer.

Compassion means “to suffer with,” to become a partner in the suffering of others. Compassionate people feel the pain of persons other than themselves.

“…for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…”

Better and richer and health speak of hope.

Worse and poorer and sickness speak of passion.

Storm, let no one deceive you. Passion does not produce commitment. Commitment produces passion.

Have you never heard about the injustices endured by that boy who was born less than 9 months after his parents were married, who then spent his life bringing peace and help and hope to others? He endured mockery, false arrest, a sham trial, a bullwhipping, and then spikes were driven through his hands and feet. They call these events, “The Passion of Christ.”

Passion, at its core, is a parching thirst that cries out to be quenched.

No, Storm. You are not passionate. You lack the commitment to be.

I am finished talking to Storm. Now I am talking to you. Have you been saying, “I can’t find my passion”?

Would you like to be passionate? Would you like to feel so strongly about something that you would be willing to suffer for it? Passion is a fire easily lit: just make a commitment and don’t look back, or left, or right; only forward.

Make a commitment. Pay the price of it.

Mark Jennison has a passion for the gym. I know this because he goes to the gym every day and suffers.

Princess Pennie has a passion for gardening. I know this because I see her on her knees, patiently digging and planting and weeding and pruning to create a look and feel of harmony across acres of land.

Brad Whittington has compassion for the homeless. I know this because he cooks for them and drives to an unsettling place to serve them one-by-one, face-to-face.

Commitment is the only true form of passion.

Make a commitment. Passion will follow.

Aroo,

Roy H. Williams