John Wesley, an eighteenth century theologian said, “When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.”
When you are in touch with your God-given passion you are on fire for life. People can easily tell whether you are passionate about your life or if you are just getting by. You wear that on your sleeve and you can’t cover it up.
If you are living your passion, you don’t watch the clock – if you do, you’re wishing there were more hours in the day to keep one doing what you love. There is no need for an alarm clock because you can’t wait for the sun to come up so you can start your day. One of the most important things about living a life of passion is that you have the objective clearly in mind. Therefore, if a little roadblock gets in your way you won’t be totally sidetracked. You can see far enough down the road toward your end goal that the little things don’t deter you. Once you have identified your passion and you go after it each and every day you will begin to build momentum. As John Wesley said, “people love to come and see you burn.” People want to be apart of something fresh, something exciting, something bigger than themselves.
The opposite is also true. If you loathe your life because you are just busy. You go and do the same thing you hate every day because you don’t know what else you would do. You aren’t living for anything except the hear and now. There is no goal. There is no end in sight. Things are not clear. They are foggy. Your tired, frustrated and stressed out. You know it and so does everyone else. And John Wesley’s quote is more painfully true if you are in this boat. When you are just blown around by the circumstances and worries of the day you are also very lonely because you’re not “burning” so no one has come by to see you.
Have you identified your passions? We’ll talk on this blog about some ways I think you can find your passion and calling. What are some ways you have used to determine what God placed you on this planet for?
that quote is misattributed to John Wesley. It was quoted as from John Wesley in The Peaceful Path of Prosperity: Practical and Spiritual Approaches to Enrich Your Life with Your Inner Wealth (2001) by Danny Babineaux but wasnt found in any record of Wesley before 2001. You should do a minimum of research before basing your post on a misattributed quote.
The thinking involved in this quote implies that “I do something awesome, and as a result people come to look at me” which doesnt not follow John Wesley’s teaching in any ways. BTW people do not spend their time looking at other people’s life they are way too busy with their own life to be influenced by other’s passions or how “passionatly” they live their life. Its a very positive thing to live life with passion but dont do it for others do it for yourself! Do not do things for others to be impressed by you or be insipired by what you do! Do what you love to do because you love to do it. Happiness is in no way defined by how many come to watch “you burn”!! It’s just a rediculous concept!