One summer day about six years ago, I was getting dinner ready after bringing the kids home from swim team. Since it was a nice evening and everyone was still a little wet, we decided to dine al fresco. My son (10 years old at the time) took his plate outside and sat down on a large rock to enjoy his dinner. A few minutes later, his younger sister (8 years old at the time) came outside with her plate but made a hair-raising discovery on the way to find a seat. As she walked by the large rock my son was sitting on, she noticed a copperhead snake at the base of the rock. She ran inside and proclaimed, “There’s a snake outside and we’re all going to DIE!”

Perhaps it was a bit of an overreaction, but my reaction wasn’t too far from hers as I’m outrageously afraid of snakes. I ran outside and sure enough, there was a copperhead at the base of the rock my son was sitting on. All our hearts were racing. Thankfully, the rock was big enough that he could hop off and not be near the snake. Since my husband was out of town and I wasn’t going to go anywhere near the snake, I needed to figure out how to remove the snake from our backyard.

A few months before, I started following a page on social media about snakes in our area. There were a few administrators of the page who would offer to come remove snakes from properties and relocate them to non-humanly populated areas.  (Honestly, I didn’t care if the snake made it out dead or alive, just as long as it was gone.) A young man, Jeremy, responded that he could remove the snake. Awesome.

As I often do, I projected how things would play out. Jeremy would come over, do whatever to the snake, leave, and we’d get on with our lives. And, as often happens, nothing went the way I projected… praise the Lord.

Jeremy arrived and had a large, bright orange Home Depot bucket in one hand, and a long pole with a hook on the end in the other hand. He made short work of getting the snake into the bucket.  Easy peasy (for him). Instead of leaving, he stayed for an hour longer educating us on the habits of copperheads, how to make our yard less attractive to them, what time copperheads are most active, what to do if bitten, etc. Everything he said was news to me and extremely helpful. But Jeremy wasn’t merely passing information to us – he was sharing his passion.

As someone who, eh hem, strongly dislikes snakes, I was taken aback by Jeremy’s absolute love for them. It never occurred to me to like, much less love, snakes. But Jeremy lit up when he talked about snakes. His love of snakes seemed to be ingrained in him – written into the fabric of his being. And while I couldn’t understand his passion, I was sure thankful for it. He provided immediate protection as he removed the snake, and then future protection by educating us to do more than just freak out when faced with a venomous snake.

After Jeremy left, the kids and I discussed how awesome it is that the Lord so carefully and intentionally gave us different passions. He created us so differently – what strikes fear in us lights Jeremy up. We were blessed by Jeremy who had immersed himself in the world of snakes – and then used that information to help our family. When we prayed that night, we thanked God for giving Jeremy such a desire for the thing we are most afraid of. We talked about how gracious, generous, and providential God is in doling out talents, interests, and passions to His children.

As our own children are getting older and deciding on colleges and possible careers, we are not pointing them in any specific direction, but rather looking at how God built them, what already comes easily to them and gives them joy. We know God intentionally built them with His purposes in mind. As soon as we start looking at future possibilities with our kids, we first look at what God has already placed in them.

God is intentional in how He creates each of us. His design for you is consistent with His purpose for you. Even your favorite color was selected by God just for you. Whatever preferences and passions He gave you are for His purposes. Every God-given passion we have matches a character trait of the Lord Himself and is intended to bring Him glory. Does everyone steward their passion for the Lord – obviously not. However, that doesn’t make the statement any less true.

Whatever your passion, it is a means to a Glorious End. The Lord has hidden in each of His children exactly what is needed at this time and place in history to move His Kingdom forward (Acts 17:26). Even if your passion doesn’t seem to relate to ministry, whatever you do and wherever you go, you are on mission.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

Dear Lord, thank You for inscribing passions on our hearts. Not only do You care about our passions, You gave them to us! Thank You for being deeply involved in every fiber of our being – even our likes, our dislikes. We often think “that’s just how I am” without giving credit to You – our Creator. Nothing escapes Your view or concern. Thank You for generously giving us passions and pursuits that light us up. May we give every bit of what You’ve given us back to You for Your good and Your glory. Maranatha! Amen.