Zeal

“Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” 

                                                                                        –     Romans 12:11

My wife and I are early risers. Some days I find it easier to wake up and get out of bed and other days I find it a little harder. Recently, I have tried to understand what makes a day worth jumping out of bed; and the answer to me is zeal. 

My opinion is that zeal is what makes an awe struck human creation from something ordinary. When you look up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome you can see zeal coming to life through strokes of a brush. I often wonder of Samuel who was awoken by God in his sleep and how he jumped out of bed and said: “Here I am Lord”. I believe that Samuel was full of zeal, which made him jump out of bed to answer to God’s call in his life. A complacent soul exists, but a soul with zeal brings forth the beauty of life. 

Zeal for life is what God wants us to have, since zeal is stemmed out of happiness and God always wants us to be happy. Jesus’s life on earth was the perfect example for us to follow and we can learn the beauty of life completely captured with zeal in Jesus’s own life.

The breath of life, that was Jesus, was so filled with zeal that others around the baby could feel it. St. John the Baptist leapt for joy in his mother’s womb just by knowing the presence of Jesus. When zeal like this is seen it is contagious to the point of utmost joy. 

On my last visit with my sister, for a few hours my sister and brother-in-law had to leave her toddler with the rest of the family. The moment my sister and brother-in-law came back, her little son was jumping and leaping with joy, which made me understand zeal. My little nephew knew that the zeal which my sister and my brother-in-law showed in taking care of him, that when they were around, joy was back in his life. 

So how can we bring zeal into our lives and everyone around us? By caring for deeply the things that we plan to do during the day. I would go as far as to tell that, if you don’t have zeal in what you do, it might be better not to do it. Rather, find something that you are passionate about.