WHAT MAKES US COME ALIVE... AND BURN

 

“Light yourself on fire with passion,

and people will come from miles to watch you burn.”

John Wesley

 

A couple of weeks ago, a 60-year-old woman called me. Apparently, she had asked, on one of the FB groups, about a place where Public Speaking was taught for ‘adults’… And, you know how willingly - and, often, weirdly - some of us are ready with our responses. The woman, must’ve received dozens of recommendations… many saying, ‘So and so person/place is the best.’

When the woman called me, she said what one of the young girls, who had attended our Public-speaking course, had written on FB:

“Gerry Sir… the best in the entire world!!!”

The woman and I both laughed at it… and, then, started discussing about why the she was keen to learn the public-speaking skill…

The woman said, that she was a pastor at a certain Christian congregation and felt she lacked the gift of speaking with passion. “I need to speak like great evangelists,” she said…

I remembered a hundred evangelists who spoke like this woman was wanting to. I, also, remembered, what Abraham Lincoln had once said: “Speak in such a way as if you were attacked by bees.”

Means, with that sense of urgency and involvement... Possessed!

“Will I be able to preach on the basis of your certificate?” the woman asked…

I froze for a moment!

“Ma’am, are you expecting a certificate to make you a great preacher? What certificate did Jesus Christ hold?”

Well, we both rested this case…

There is something inside our hearts that makes us come alive… and burn… If this thing has to be named, I would call it ‘Passion’…

And, we are in the midst of the Lenten season… The Holy Week is just a few days away… Oh, those last hours of Christ…. ‘The Passion of the Christ’!!!

Passion is blood-red! It is when you live with all you have… when you come alive, when you burn like the Sun…

Yes, yes, yes. But, how to come alive, or how to burn like the Sun? Sorry, this is one thing you and I can never expect to be tutored at any reputed institute… We either get it from inside, or we simply don’t…

During our PD sessions, I play some of the scenes from the film, ‘3-Idiots’. Invariably, everyone – little kids, young adults and adults – all love it. They know why Rancho is a genius and why Chatur is a real idiot… Yet, when they go home, they continue to do exactly what the Chatur had been doing!

 

 

Our years of experience doesn’t really matter… Our passion does. Only the passion will keep us burning and draw people to us from miles afar… Yes, as Howard Thurman says, “What the world needs is people who have come alive.”

And, let me tell you, once again, from my own experience: No educational institution – no matter how reputed it is – can teach you how to come alive and burn…

Will the 60-year-old woman be able to preach the message of Jesus Christ with the help of a certificate? And, who am I to certify that? Did my own certificates make me a teacher?

The night before last, my great buddy from college, Joe, shared this video with a line: “Reminded me of you.”

 

I slept well that night…

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: 1. Bollywood Hangama  2. pixabay

Videos: 1. Vidhu Vinod Chopra 2. Nam TV  3. TikTok (Unknown source)