Passion

Always try to keep the main thing the main thing.

Passion is a buzz word among recruiters. "Tell me, what are you passionate about?" is a pretty routine question asked at a job interview. When I lecture on my photography that question is often asked. Back around the early 21st Century (yeah, I'm that old) brides, in meeting with me would often ask that same question because of articles they had read by wedding planners in bridal magazines. Frankly, it always bothered me.

Until one day I had an epiphany.

"The word passion originates from a Greek word πάσχω that means to suffer. In Latin it's passio. The early church adopted it to describe "loving someone so much that you would give your life for them." Like the soldier who jumps on a hand grenade to save his fellow soldiers, the mother who places herself between her child and a hungry lion, like Jesus on the cross. That's why the Catholic Church refers to the crucifixion as "the passion of the Christ."

You know that verse, "For God so loved the world..."

I would tell them that being a photographer, and the art of it, are a wonderful part of my life. It kinda defines who I am. But what am I passionate about? My wife, my children, my family. When brides asked me this question, I would ask them, "Years from now, if your husband is asked what is he passionate about, I hope he'll answer you and his family. Not his job."

It's important that you find your gifts, your talent, your calling to be that person who has been "fearfully and wonderfully made." But when it comes to being passionate about something, I hope it's something more than your career.