When Passion Dissipates

Transcript

Hi everyone! Welcome back to another podcast. My name is Glennavelle Manarang, welcome to Soulish Femme. In today’s topic is titled, “When passion dissipates.” Passion is necessary. Everybody has passion, when you have no passion then perhaps you are somewhat dead on the inside. It actually ignites something within you when you have passion. When you first fall in love with someone, you are passionate in the beginning. Anything that you do in life, it takes passion to start, however; with time and with season that passion will dissipate. Or in other words, it’s going to deteriorate or it’s going to subside is another word. So, you’re learning a lot of adjectives today. Therefore, we are going to discuss about the attitudes the things that you must do when passion is going to dissipate number.

#01. Contentment

One is about commitment 1 Timothy 6:8 says “Now godliness with contentment or commitment is great gain. We brought nothing into this world and carry nothing certain we can carry nothing out and having with food and clothing with these we shall be content.” So, I guess contentment rather instead of commitment so contentment is number one. To be able to continue in life when you are going to lack a passion. So, contentment is something that necessarily you are enjoying in the season of your life. Perhaps, you are in the season of planting today and then tomorrow you just have to wait for the season of harvest. Contentment not necessarily that you have to be complacent and do not follow your dreams and goals. Contentment sometimes looks like you are in the wilderness. It takes a long time to watch something that you want something to grow, like a farmer. I Ialways like to give an example that. Before you harvest something it takes months of cultivation and takes months of taking care of the plant or whatever it is that you’re taking care of.

The same thing with us we can be content of these things for we are told that with food and clothing we must learn to be content. With these things, we cannot just always be achieving and always getting more and not really enjoying what we have today. Especially in a society that we are told that we must be overly achieving something and we could never just sit back and watch and appreciate and celebrate every milestone that we have accomplished. Because we’re so caught up in always achieving things but sometimes we become so caught up in the action but not necessarily enjoying the being of which. Perhaps, trying to appreciate the hard work that we have done.

#2. Commitment

And number two is commitment. James 5:7 says “Be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. (Established grounded or rooted) your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Commitment is the word that is to commit, is to be able to stay in it or whatever it is that you’re trying to work on. Commitment is the word that we usually do not hear often in our world today. Because nobody likes to commit. Every time, when life gets tough. When circumstances usually does not always turns out the way that we planned. The fastest solution for each one of us is to run away, give up and quit and that is very common. Commitment is something that even James said just like a farmer who waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently. That’s the word that commitment has to be combined. Because if you cannot commit in something you will be impatient. So for most of us, we quit because we’re impatient. We haven’t received or seen the outcome that we hope for.

We hope for a successful business and we think that just because it didn’t work, perhaps; it’s not really meant to be. So, we just quit. We never commit. The same thing with any relationship, our culture is basically saying pack up your bag and leave. Maybe you have married the wrong person, the other side is a lot greener. You deserve better and if we really are going to follow the teachings of the Bible we must be careful with those kinds of advice. Yes, marriage is hardwork. Marriage takes a lot of two people to compromise. Sometimes to communicate but at the same time it also takes a lot of patience and commitment. To commit with someone that is not so perfect is very hard because we usually have this idea that when we come into relationship that we can change people.

But that is a problem that most women fall into because we think that our husbands are projects and we should change their attitudes or their proclivity of whatever addictions that they’ve probably had prior to marrying us. So, we are so caught up in fixing them and therefore when we do not really see any changes. Then of course, it’s a lot easier to commit and to just you know it’s a lot easier to give up rather. Instead of to commit. That’s why, we are told that you have to establish. You have to be grounded and rooted in your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. So, not necessarily that we have to commit to someone. It’s also for the Lord. Everything that we do for the Lord is also the things that we do for people. Whatever we do for people is unto the Lord. It’s not necessarily for people so this is second thing that we can activate or practice when passion dissipates.

#3. Consistency

Thirdly is consistency. David rested in the Lord. Psalm 16 9:11, “Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in Sheol nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption.” – Consistency. So, David was consistent. He was consistent in his prayer and seeking the Lord. He was consistent in asking God for guidance. He was consistent in examining his heart. He would always say, “Examine my heart oh God and see if there’s any wickedness in me. Create in me a clean heart oh God.” Consistency is keeping at it when it gets tough. So, this is the third point that I want to make when passion dissipates you got to be consistent. It takes a long time to grow something. If you are not consistent with anything in life. It takes consistency because without it, you are just going to probably waste so much of your time. Just like trying to lose a pound, I know, I do not like to work out, I’m not very consistent when it comes to working out.

Because for me, it’s just a chore but if I really have to be honest, if I would have to keep at it for 6 months. Perhaps, I can see changes in my body. The same thing with eating the kind of food that is healthy and make healthy choices that is best for our body. If we’re consistently eating the right food and doing the right things. Then we can see results. The problem is inconsistency and the lack thereof of consistency is where we fall short of it and we end up going back to the same old patterns, the same bad habits and behavior that is not going to help us in the long run. The same thing with keeping up with my blog and YouTube is something that I need to also be consistent. When I said that I’ll be here Mondays and Thursdays that I have to show up consistently.

Of course, somehow if there’s any changes in my life. Maybe I should change that and then it also says in Psalm 17:5″Uphold my steps in your paths that my footsteps may not slip.” So even David asked God that he must be able to keep him in his path because also living with for God and living in this life as a Christian is also hard. So, we have a lot of distractions, a lot of objects that is dangling in front of us trying to deceive us that this is the right way, and that’s the best thing to do. But if we are not really aware of the tactics of the devil, we’re also going to fall into the trap. Thinking that we’re actually consistent with the Lord in prayer, in reading His word, meditation and just being consistently asking God to reveal to us the next way.

#4. Endurance

And another character that we must develop when the passion dissipates is already said that endurance. So, to endure hardships 2 Timothy 2:34, “You therefore must endure hardship and good soldier as Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life.” Make use of your time wisely as it pertains to how you spend your days and the things that you do the things that you watch, audio that you listen to. So, this is about endurance. So, when passion is gone you have to endure and it says that you got to think yourself as a soldier of Christ who had to go through hardship. So, anything in life that you’re trying to do and you have not seen the results yet. We must endure as I said relationships, marriages this also is applicable to marriage especially. When life is hard, when your relationship is being tested. When there’s temptation. When there is miscommunication. When there is differences in your marriage. When there is trouble in your marriage, you got to learn how to endure and because I think most successful marriages did not really get to become successful by giving up on each other.

So, the same thing with businesses or raising children. As a mother, it takes a lot of endurance. Somedays you just don’t want to give get up out of bed to drop off your son to school or your children to school because you’re tired. You’re probably sleep deprived, you are going through so much in your life physically, mentally and emotionally. But you just have to force yourself. To muster the courage to get up and to endure throughout the day. You got to do what you got to do as a mother. Sometimes we have so much going on that people usually do not understand as a woman. We are tackling with so many responsibilities. It is taking care of our children, figuring out what to cook, trying to clean and then taking care of our husbands and then we have our business and a job. So, it takes a lot of endurance.

So, how are we going to build endurance? Of course, through difficulty and discipline is I think is another point that I would like to make. Without discipline is basically just pointless. Because without discipline too, you can just waste your time away, I love to time manage myself. I know exactly what I would like to do in the morning. I pretty much stick to the same routine in the morning, my coffee and then bread. I will be happy that’s it usually what I eat. Sometimes, I would make some scrambled eggs. You got to know that, the less effort it is that you do something in the morning, it’s practically you’re going to start your day easier.

So, sometimes when you have discipline and you have time management. You know exactly what your day is going to be like. For me usually, as I said, journaling sometimes I would do podcast. There are days that I would just waste my time away but there are days that if I have to really work. I’m going to focus on working so if I have to say to myself today you have to go through your closet. You’re going to organize your closet or go through your pantry. There are days that I would just have to be disciplined and trying to keep up with the unnecessary clutter that just shows up in my kitchen. Or, somewhere that I do not need. I have to be disciplined and keeping up with the clothes that I no longer wear and it’s just occupying space in my closet. I have to be disciplined and throwing out you know sometimes the trash. You know not to be able to just let it sit there with the help of myhusband. There are things that you got to be disciplined also. As I said, hygiene that we have to develop you know hopefully brushing your teeth and taking care of your hair as a woman and taking care of our body as a woman. Especially when you’re going through a lot of changes as a perimenopause.

Perhaps, for some of you, we have to really justbe attuned to the things that are happening in our lives. You know discipline in taking care of our skin and discipline in our self-care. Discipline is usually communicating to other people what it is that we would like to do. I mean it takes a lot ofdiscipline to have an open communication. Sometimes, this is why marriages falls apart and relationships disarray because lack of communication. We don’t have a discipline to communicate effectively or properly lack of discipline. Perhaps, in our time management. We squander a lot of times, watching things that not really necessarily. I am guilty as such because instead of reading a book. Sometimes, I am caught up into just mindlessly watching things on YouTube that I know I shouldn’t or just without discipline in areas that I should be. Disciplined, like I said. Working out and drinking lots of water and eating the right kind of food because eventually when we’re not disciplined in areas that we must. Then we are going to see it. We’re going to see the result and most likely we don’t see the fruition because we didn’t put the effort.

#5. Determination

So and I think lastly is also going to be determined and when it comes to endurance. It says, for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God. You may receive the promise. So, the person that is enduring, the salvation because we want to get to the finish line to keep at it. Being a Christian in this world is hard but it says that when we endure by being a Christian and doing the right thing for the Lord and to work for the Lord we have a promise. We are going to receive rewards in heaven. I don’t know what that reward is. I have no idea the kind of rewards we will receive but that’s why the Bible is clear. Whatever you do, whether you eat, you drink, do it unto the Lord because God has rewards in heaven. You just do things not for men but for the Lord.

To conclude this is to remind you of what Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season. We shall reap if we do not lose heart.” So most of us, lose heart when we do not see the result yet. When we haven’t seen any outcome that we hope for. We lose heart and that is the reason why we don’t usually keep at it. We usually like to just give up and quit. So, when passion is gone. We have to really be enduring. We have to be committed. We have to be consistent. We have to be disciplined and we have to really just not lose heart. Perhaps, is because when we lose heart, we feel impatient and then next thing you know just going to throw the towel and says, “What’s the point?” And I think the person, Thomas Edison. The person who invented or discovered the light bulb. It took him a thousand times, if I have my research right in my mind. Based on my memory. It took him many times of attempt before he could finally realized the product or made it happened. He didn’t quit the first time, the second, the third time. A thousand times he tried and attempted to create a light bulb, and finally it just happened. Imagine if thelight bulb was never invented then probably, we would not have light bulbs today. Because one person decided to stuck through it no matter what happened. No matter the obstacles that he had to face. No matter the kind of struggles that he had to face. Yet, he kept going and he never quit and he never stopped believing and though it took him that many times of attempt and still today we are still enjoying because of what he has conceptualized or done.

Therefore, 2 Timothy 1:13 says, “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” So the pattern of sound words. We also have to be careful of things that can help us to endure so this is why when we are listening to the right kind of podcast that will help us keep our ambition. We have to keep up with our dreams. We have to listen to those kind of people. I love to listen sometimes to Jim Rhon. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with him, but I would always sometimes play on the background while I’m cooking or driving just to motivate me about his teachings, about ambition, about goals and about success in life. I have done a podcast a few months ago, if I’m not mistaken about what success looks like. Although success could mean anything to anyone but that is for you to define. So with that said, those are just the attitudes or habits. No, not habits. These are the attitudes that you must apply. Habits are what you do continually. These are attitudes that you must apply that you must implement or envelop in your own life so that you can be successful in this life. Therefore, I have to leave you with always, be bold, be brave and be courageous and keep your faith. I will see you on my next podcast. I hope that you will have a wonderful day ahead of you!