Oh, Passion, My Passion

I wasn't sure what to write about this week, but in the span of a few days the word "passion" kept cropping up so I'll run with that and see what happens.  I was ordering produce from Papa Joseph on Monday and asked him what fruit is in season right now.  He said "maracuja," which means passion fruit.

Passion fruit flowers are stunning! I read that they received their name from missionaries, who were reminded by the flower of the passion of Christ.  The three stigmas represent three nails.  The "threads" of the flower represent the crown of thorns.  The purple represents the purple robe used to mock Jesus. The five petals and five sepals represent the ten disciples who remained faithful to Jesus throughout the Passion.

I used to confuse passion and exuberance.  I thought if I was passionate about Jesus, I had to show it by worshiping, speaking, and acting exuberantly.  But that just wasn't in line with my personality so I thought I had no passion and I felt guilty.  Then I met my introvert husband, who is far less exuberant than I am, but has a deep passion for Christ. I came to understand that passion does indeed compel us to action, but it doesn't require us to be something other than ourselves.  I was house cleaning yesterday and had my Selah cd playing.  Passion came to my mind once again as this song played:

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!  - S. Trevor Francis

Now that's passion!  I love that hymn, and had to stop what I was doing and just absorb it.  

I had never tried passion fruit so I ordered some from Papa Joseph.  We didn't even know how to eat it.  Emily told us that she sees people at school just scoop out the pulp, seeds and all, and eat it with a spoon.  So, at supper one night we tried it.  Oh my, it was tart! Everyone had a good laugh at the faces we made.  I decided to try baking something with them. I figured if a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down then a cup of sugar ought to help us eat our passion fruit.  I combined a few recipes I found on the internet and ended up with passion fruit muffins.

Passion fruit muffins:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
pulp from three passion fruits
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup milk

Glaze: 

1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs melted butter
pulp from one or two passion fruits

I just mixed all the dry ingredients first and then stirred in the wet ingredients.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until done.  Add glaze when muffins have cooled.  Half of us liked them, including one of the cats.  She stole my breakfast muffin yesterday.