My uncle showed me his passion for the Kansas City Royals by talking to his transistor radio while listening to their games when I was a young boy. He seemed convinced the players could hear him. That began my lifetime love affair with America’s pastime.
My 11th grade English Lit teacher showed me his passion for the written word. He cheered for us when we wrote in our school journals. He showed us the power of words. And he started a publication, encouraging his students to submit to it. That began my lifetime love affair with words.
Shortly after becoming a Christian, I attended a church outside of Hazen, Arkansas, while on family vacation. In Sunday school, they were going through the book of Acts. It ignited a desire in me to read the entire Bible. That began my lifetime love affair with the Word.
I’m the type of person who needs to be inspired to change. Don’t tell me to change or quote studies to me or try to argue me into change. Show me your passion for something without any agenda or ulterior motive. If something inspires you, it might inspire me. Even if it doesn’t, it’ll give me a peek into what makes you tick.
I may never care about the same things you do. But when you speak about something you love with unguarded enthusiasm, you offer a glimpse of the world through your eyes. And sometimes, that glimpse is enough to awaken a love I didn’t know was waiting in me.
So go ahead and show me the hidden woods you find solace in, your eclectic CD or LP collection, that cool app you use to save money for a rainy day, or the way you journal your prayers in cheap notebooks from a store I’ve never visited.
Most of what has shaped my life began that way. Pressure usually makes me retreat or shut down. And persuasion rarely changes me. But borrowed wonder has a way of opening doors I didn’t know were there.
