Jennifer Llamas, Youth and Family Ministry Director
Exuberance, enthusiasm, energy – qualities that we all enjoy feeling and seeing around us. How do these expressions relate to our spiritual path and development? This is one of the questions we will be examining this month in our Youth Ministry lessons as we turn our attention to October’s Power of Zeal.
Energy exists in many forms in the world around us and is neither good nor bad. We benefit from focused electrical or solar energy that keeps our households and businesses up and running. We enjoy days in which we accomplish many goals and feel fully charged up. But we have also seen examples of dangerous lightning strikes or ungrounded wires that lead to mayhem and destruction. We may have witnessed anger, intolerance, and toddler tantrums when strong energy overflows. The key to energy in both our physical and spiritual worlds is focus.
Spiritual Zeal asks us to harness our enthusiasm and use it as the energetic force to propel us forward toward our goals. Zeal is steady, focused energy that calls us to step into the motion we need to successfully fulfill our own best intentions. When we feel an eagerness for life and hold interest and optimism in the path ahead, we are tapping into our spiritual Power of Zeal. When obstacles pop up along our chosen path, but we audaciously choose to be bold and navigate our way forward, we are practicing the spiritual Power of Zeal. When we devote our whole heart to our path and harness our energy into single-minded attention, we are living out our spiritual Power of Zeal.
What excites you? What beckons you to move forward? What causes you to leap out of bed as the sun rises ready to meet the day? In the weeks ahead, join us as we learn more about our innate capacity to be enthusiastic, audacious, and devoted to the paths we choose and to whom we have come here to be!
