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What are you passionate about? Your sweetheart? Your children? Your job? Your church? Those are all good things and we should be passionate about them, but some of us are passionate about things that aren’t so important. Such as the toilet paper rolling OVER the roll, instead of under. Squeezing the toothpaste from the END instead of from the middle. Dirty socks on the floor, a forgotten birthday or a forgotten anniversary.

Are these legitimate frustrations? Sometimes. Are they life changing? Hardly.

I have been guilty of being passionate about the wrong things on more occasions than I would like to admit. But a few years ago, I learned a bit about letting those things go.

You all know that Jim is a sensitive guy. He’s considerate of people’s feelings, he’s thoughtful, kind and generous. I think some of his generosity came from learning to share in a family with eight children. I on the other hand, am an only child and find that our adolescent years were very different. He’s used to noise while I’m used to quiet. He experienced sibling rivalry, where he acquired great skills in problem solving and the only “sibling rivalry” I had was our cat. While I need space, time and quiet to get my thoughts in order, Jim thinks things through, talks them out, and finds a solution.

So when we were first married, any time I would get upset, Jim, the problem solver that he is, would immediately try to soothe my hurt feelings. He would remind me that he loves me, say “Let’s talk about it” and assure me that everything would be alright. I would continually say to him that I just needed 15 or 20 minutes alone and I would get over it, but usually, he wouldn’t let me go until we talked about it.

Then one day, I once again got all aggravated about something. (The important word being “something” because I can’t even remember what it was that had me so frustrated.) I waited for Jim to do as usual, sit down with me, tell me that he loves me and do all the right things to smooth my ruffled feathers. Not so! After being a bit spoiled by his kind words and sympathy any time I was upset, I was surprised when my sensitive Jim gave me what I had been asking for and left me alone to think. It was a rude awakening.

He had come to see that I was getting upset over trivial things, realizing that I would be alright and would quickly get over my moodiness. I realized that I was letting myself get passionate about things that weren’t important. It was a great lesson learned!

I challenge you to stop and look at the big picture, to see the eternal in our lives, because having the right priorities and the right passions is life changing!

Melissa Brady
http://www.jimandmelissabrady.com

Reader Comments

Great article, Melissa. Sound like the two of you have got it figured out.

God is good all the time & all the time God is good. 

Elaine Harcourt

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