Virtue Magazine

Three lanes over from the lane where my siblings and I were bowling, slouched four teenagers: two boys and two girls. Their game over, they were eating the remains of the food on their table and talking…on their cell phones. Both boys had shaggy brown curls that hung down over their foreheads; they chatted with the girls, played on their cell phones, and looked bored all at once. The girls, one a dyed blond, the other a brunette, wore tight T-shirts and ripped jeans and were both talking on their cell phones a good deal of the time. After a while, they all got up, and I watched them as they walked past the front desk and into the restrooms. At this bowling alley, people pay after they play, so I figured they would pay when they came out. At least twenty minutes passed, and I forgot about the little group until I saw them hurry out of the restrooms and head for the door. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who spotted their attempted get-away: the man behind the front desk ran after them, and with evident disappointment and reluctance, the two girls pulled out their purses and paid. The boys waited several yards away until the girls were finished paying, and then they all left together.It may have been the fact that they were close to my age that caused me to observe the group so carefully, but what really made me think more about them was my family’s conversation at dinner that evening. We were discussing what each of us were passionate about, and I began to wonder. What were those “kids” passionate about? What would make them excited or angry? What would make young Americans zealous? What do they live for?

For the group of teenagers at the bowling alley, I cannot know what made each one of them passionate. It may have been a new movie release or video game, the losing of a girlfriend, or the importance of women’s rights.

It’s not just the “typical” American teenager, however, who may need to refocus his or her life passions or rethink what he or she is living for. What are our passions? Maybe it’s a big new sewing project or a strong opinion on why algebra is impractical. Maybe it’s a person we defend, a leader with strong opinions: someone who in our eyes does not deserve to be criticized in any way possible.

Whatever may get us passionate, whatever may hold our excitement, or make us angry—rightly or not—is it really important? Does the priority that it holds in our mind deserve that level of importance?

For those four bored teenagers at the bowling alley, what was their passion or zeal? In whom or what did it lie? Sitting around a table cluttered with the remains of hot dogs and popcorn, there was no zeal. In our lives, there needs to be passion and zeal, passion for the things of God, a passion so real in our lives that people will see us bowl and see our joy, see us at a restaurant and see our love, see at us at a movie and see our depth, see us at church and see our sincerity, see us living our lives and see our passion.