Earlier this week we had a look at seven things that won’t fuel your passion, which leaves this lurking question:  what will fuel your passion?

Here is one thing I’ve found that answers that question better than anything:

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

Face it, there are far more than seven things that won’t fuel your passion. Life is full of events, people and situations that drain passion from us. Sometimes it happens instantly.  Sometimes it’s a slow drain over time. 

In fact, we probably can’t produce enough defence to ward off all the attacks on passion that will hit us over time.  As soon as we think we’ve got it figured out, something hits from an angle we hadn’t anticipated. 

That’s why a sustained offence might be all the defence we need. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well spring of life. 

Increasingly for me, remembering this is becoming a daily thing I pay attention to.  Staying passionate over the long haul is a life commitment for me.  I never want to retire (even if I one day retire).  I never want to hit ‘cruise control’ on my calling, spiritual walk, parenting, friendships or marriage.  I want to bring my best every day, add value to those around me, be a constant student of what I see, experience and hear, and for that, staying passionate is essential. 

That may not seem like an ‘answer’, but it’s a principle that I think can guide anyone through various seasons of heart stagnation.  When I find my passion waning, I increasingly see it as a heart matter, and I start a conversation with God, often with Toni, and often with close friends about it. 

The longer I’m alive, the more intentional I need to become about it.  If you don’t stay intentional about how you live, you’ll hit a default mode that is far below the potential God sees in you.

How about you?  What do you do to guard your heart?  What do you do to stay passionate season after season?

When my heart is alive and elastic, it’s because I’m paying attention to this principle.  When my heart is hardening or growing dead, it’s because I’m ignoring it. 
 

The longer you’re in leadership, the more aware you become of what really fuels passion over the long haul.  The question that drives me (a lot) these days is this:  How do you stay passionate over a long period of time?

Some things fuel passion in the short term, but they don’t last.  Two things often fuel passion in leaders in the short term:

1. First.  When you’re a young leader, doing something for the first time can feel like passion.  Your first team, first successes, first failures, first learnings, first accomplishments.
2. New.  Every time you start something new you get passionate.  That’s why some leaders love change.  Sometimes leaders love change too much.  Sometimes we change not because the organization needs change, but because we got bored.

That’s all good, but you get to a point after a few years where you realize life isn’t a series of firsts or a series of new.  What then?  Sometimes, leaders try to find substitutes for authentic passion.  Here are five more things that won’t fuel your passion long term: 

1. Caffeine.   If you haven’t got much deep down passion, caffeine is a cheap substitute. Whether it’s Red Bull, Starbucks or some monster energy, getting the juices flowing just feels so good.  It can make you feel excited even if you’re not. 
2. Overscheduling.   If a leader isn’t excited about anything big (no big challenge on the radar), one temptation is to fill life up with too many little things.  So we overbook, overwork and over commit hoping to rekindle some energy and momentum.
3. Hype.  Feeling a lack of passion deep down, we’ll try to convince ourselves and everyone else that what we’re doing is the BEST THING EVER, even when we’re not sure it is. 
4. Time off.  If you’re not engaged deep down, leaders will sometimes just wander away, spending less and less time engaging in what they’ve been called to do.
5. Find a New (Side) Passion.  If you’re not passionate about the main thing, you’ll find something else to be passionate about – whether that’s building the biggest deck in history in your backyard or starting a new ministry on the side.

All of it’s sad, because you’re not really doing the thing God called you to do. Because you don’t have the passion for it anymore.  And the things that you thought fueled passion weren’t really doing it.  

It also avoids the hard soul work that actually fuels long term passion.  Later this week, I’ll come back with some thoughts on how to stay passionate over the long haul doing the same thing you were called to do in the first place.

Until then – what are you learning about passion?  What sidelines your passion? What did you think might work that didn’t work?