Passion
Missed this. Did not know how much until I started to jot down my impressions and meditations from the past few weeks.
I lost so many potential stories, being away from this journal. A record of how I grew, what I learned, wisdom I gained…only bits and pieces were written down in a central file. Well, at least I retained the important events. Other cherished and important details are now lost to time (or until a new event serves as a memory trigger).
I think…part of what kept me away was I KNEW very little of my life was worthy of a story. I only wanted to write if my situation was improving. And I saw more backsliding than improvement.
God prompted something radical for me in prayer. What would happen if you sincerely prayed, “God, today give me the opportunity to have an experience worthy of a story.” What kinds of people would you meet…events you would witness…lives you could change.
Ben H. is one the post-high guys at my church whom I hope to become closer friends with. While we talked he stated how the world NEEDS more people who are passionate in what they do. What makes your voice and bearing become passionate when you talk about it?
I invest much effort in keeping my mind stoic and calm. Slow, easy movements and a steady pace. Problems are broken down and sorted, each piece solved at a time. Such a methodical life left…little room for excitement.
‘Passionate’ is not a phrase I would use to describe my lifestyle. And then, I felt the quiet whisper of Jesus in my mind…“Passion is a word I WANT to use to describe YOU.” What a perspective…what an idea…that when Jesus discusses me in conversation with the Trinity and the angels, He DESIRES me to be actively passionate in my assigned role and mission. There is something inside me that can have a sustained joy and glorious worship of God. And it is not a case of “it would be nice if you can hit that level once and awhile.” More of a “that level should become NORMAL for you!”
Graphic novel - V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it. Crafted with sterling clarity and intelligence, V FOR VENDETTA brings an unequaled depth of characterization and verisimilitude to its unflinching account of oppression and resistance.
Quotes from V for Vendetta:
-Evey Hammond: My name is Evey…Evey Hammond. I’m NOBODY. Nobody SPECIAL. Not like you.
-V: Everybody is special. EVERYBODY. Everybody is a HERO, a LOVER, a FOOL, a VILLAIN. Everybody. Everybody has their STORY to tell. Even Evey Hammond. I should very much like to hear Evey Hammond’s story.
-Evey Hammond: All this riot and uproar, V…is THIS anarchy? Is THIS the land of DO-AS-YOU-PLEASE?
-V: No. THIS is only the land of TAKE-WHAT-YOU-WANT. Anarchy means “without LEADERS”; not “without ORDER.” With anarchy comes an age of ORDNUNG, of TRUE order, which is to say VOLUNTARY order. This age of ordung will begin when the mad and incoherent cycle of VERWIRRUNG that these bulletins reveal has run its course. THIS is not ANARCHY, Eve. This is CHAOS.
[Note: V’s ‘lover’ is justice, and Adam Susan’s ‘lover’ is fate.]
-V: It is a tangled and unhappy tale of hearts betrayed and loyalties misplaced. It was not I that strayed. My love was JUSTICE, and infatuated with her TRUTH and LOVELINESS, I worshipped her. …Until, behind my back, she took up with a man who violated and abused her; someone fierce and brutal with burned children on his breath. He CHANGED her. She acquired a taste for leather, chains and whips. The justice that I loved was gone; who had such kindly eyes; who took such small and careful steps… Transformed, she glared through narrow slits and ground good men beneath her vicious heel. Imagine when I learned of her affair… My anger and my shame to think how they’d made mock of all that I loved. My justice and her bestial swain, cavorting in their bloodstained sheets. Still, all in love and war is fair, they say. This being BOTH, and turnabout’s fair play. Though I must bear a cuckhold’s horns, they’re not a crown that I shall bear ALONE. You see, my rival, though inclined to roam, possessed at home a WIFE that he ADORED. He’ll rue his promiscuity, the rogue who stole MY only love, when he’s informed how many years it is… …since first I bedded HIS.
Arjayen
I lost so many potential stories, being away from this journal. A record of how I grew, what I learned, wisdom I gained…only bits and pieces were written down in a central file. Well, at least I retained the important events. Other cherished and important details are now lost to time (or until a new event serves as a memory trigger).
I think…part of what kept me away was I KNEW very little of my life was worthy of a story. I only wanted to write if my situation was improving. And I saw more backsliding than improvement.
God prompted something radical for me in prayer. What would happen if you sincerely prayed, “God, today give me the opportunity to have an experience worthy of a story.” What kinds of people would you meet…events you would witness…lives you could change.
Ben H. is one the post-high guys at my church whom I hope to become closer friends with. While we talked he stated how the world NEEDS more people who are passionate in what they do. What makes your voice and bearing become passionate when you talk about it?
I invest much effort in keeping my mind stoic and calm. Slow, easy movements and a steady pace. Problems are broken down and sorted, each piece solved at a time. Such a methodical life left…little room for excitement.
‘Passionate’ is not a phrase I would use to describe my lifestyle. And then, I felt the quiet whisper of Jesus in my mind…“Passion is a word I WANT to use to describe YOU.” What a perspective…what an idea…that when Jesus discusses me in conversation with the Trinity and the angels, He DESIRES me to be actively passionate in my assigned role and mission. There is something inside me that can have a sustained joy and glorious worship of God. And it is not a case of “it would be nice if you can hit that level once and awhile.” More of a “that level should become NORMAL for you!”
Graphic novel - V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it. Crafted with sterling clarity and intelligence, V FOR VENDETTA brings an unequaled depth of characterization and verisimilitude to its unflinching account of oppression and resistance.
Quotes from V for Vendetta:
-Evey Hammond: My name is Evey…Evey Hammond. I’m NOBODY. Nobody SPECIAL. Not like you.
-V: Everybody is special. EVERYBODY. Everybody is a HERO, a LOVER, a FOOL, a VILLAIN. Everybody. Everybody has their STORY to tell. Even Evey Hammond. I should very much like to hear Evey Hammond’s story.
-Evey Hammond: All this riot and uproar, V…is THIS anarchy? Is THIS the land of DO-AS-YOU-PLEASE?
-V: No. THIS is only the land of TAKE-WHAT-YOU-WANT. Anarchy means “without LEADERS”; not “without ORDER.” With anarchy comes an age of ORDNUNG, of TRUE order, which is to say VOLUNTARY order. This age of ordung will begin when the mad and incoherent cycle of VERWIRRUNG that these bulletins reveal has run its course. THIS is not ANARCHY, Eve. This is CHAOS.
[Note: V’s ‘lover’ is justice, and Adam Susan’s ‘lover’ is fate.]
-V: It is a tangled and unhappy tale of hearts betrayed and loyalties misplaced. It was not I that strayed. My love was JUSTICE, and infatuated with her TRUTH and LOVELINESS, I worshipped her. …Until, behind my back, she took up with a man who violated and abused her; someone fierce and brutal with burned children on his breath. He CHANGED her. She acquired a taste for leather, chains and whips. The justice that I loved was gone; who had such kindly eyes; who took such small and careful steps… Transformed, she glared through narrow slits and ground good men beneath her vicious heel. Imagine when I learned of her affair… My anger and my shame to think how they’d made mock of all that I loved. My justice and her bestial swain, cavorting in their bloodstained sheets. Still, all in love and war is fair, they say. This being BOTH, and turnabout’s fair play. Though I must bear a cuckhold’s horns, they’re not a crown that I shall bear ALONE. You see, my rival, though inclined to roam, possessed at home a WIFE that he ADORED. He’ll rue his promiscuity, the rogue who stole MY only love, when he’s informed how many years it is… …since first I bedded HIS.
Arjayen