Family, Your Passionate Father

Family,

Passion: In my youth, the word passion was only thought of in a romantic context.  It was only later that I realized the definition of the word.   One definition, according to Webster, is,

“The state of mind when it is powerfully acted upon and influenced by something external to itself.”

Now, with that definition, I look back and think about my passions.  The first one that comes to my mind is the passion I had with basketball.  In Jr. High and High School that is what I always dreamed about, worked on, and did.  I was always on the school team and enjoyed every bit of it. I gave it all I had.  I was involved in other things like school, church, and other smaller things, but basketball got most of my attention.

After high school, I realized that the NBA wasn’t in my future so I turned to other things I should do.  I thought about a mission and my friend Kirk Cowdin and I convinced ourselves that this was the correct thing to do.  So, before going to college, I went on a mission. I found myself completely involved in doing this great work, which turned out to be the hardest thing I had done so far in my life.  I truly had a passion for the work.

After the mission I went to Weber State University.  I had a passion to complete school.  I met my wife at the institute at Weber and she became my passion.  (Ok, this is the romantic context.)  Marriage was the greatest passion yet.  I keep having passions. My profession is one. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is another.  I even have a little passion of learning about toy trains.  I have a couple of extremely complex smoke-belching locomotive.

I believe we have a wonderful spirit and mind that we can control.  We can choose our passions in life.  We must use our knowledge and resources to make good choices.  Our passions can bring us success and happiness but a passion in the wrong direction will bring unhappiness.  So in your lives, I hope you can pursue passions that you can work hard at and find happiness in.

Love,

Your Passionate Father