Forgotten Passion

As I dropped of my son in the nursery at church yesterday I ran into a woman I met about 6 months ago.  My husband and I were at a point when we really wanted to join a small group at our church.  When they said they needed leaders, we volunteered and were anxious to get started.  We had a long list of folks that were interested, but were disappointed when only one person could come.  We decided that perhaps we’d wait until after the holidays to try to start again, hoping that more people would be able to be a part of our group.  Then, we kinda forgot about it, until yesterday when I ran into the one woman who came to our small group.  She asked if we were going to start up a group.  I honestly told her that we hadn’t thought about it.  I was a little embarrassed that something we once were so passionate and excited about was now something I had forgotten.  As I walked into the service, it was Palm Sunday and our pastor talked about the grand entrance of Jesus coming into Jerusalem.  People lined his path, waving palm branches which symbolized their wishes for life, prosperity, success and good fortune upon Jesus.  They cheered him on and cried out, “Hosana.”  They were so passionate.  But 5 short days later they would completely forget that passion.  How does this happen?  How can our passion so quickly fade?  Judas would betray Jesus, Peter would deny him and others would shout, “crucify him,” but only a short time before that they loved him, followed him and sought his teaching.  Are we that fickle?  I was convicted of the ups and downs of some of my passions.  Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in a moment, join the crowd, go with the flow and then lose steam as the moment passes.  But other times I think God breathed passions are thwarted because of obstacles, disappointment or unmet expectations.  I’m left wondering - what vision or passions have I betrayed and forgotten?  Was is something that came in the midst of a moment and quickly faded?  Or is it something that I need to return to, regardless of obstacles, because it was from God?