Ringo Starr wrote, "It don't come easy. You know it don't come easy." Lord, isn't that the truth. Sometimes, we think because we are passionate about something that we won't feel the struggles along the journey. Nothing could be further from the truth. After leaving a high paying corporate job eight months ago to pursue my passion, I have thus far had only limited impact on the organization that I joined and the organization continues to struggle financially. Further our organization and gone through a time of famine in terms of our purpose which is reaching a sight and sound generation through film and stage productions. However, it is our passion that allows us to overcome those struggles that otherwise would almost assuredly cause us to quit. That is why it is so important for all of us to pursue our passions. In the pursuit of any other goal when we hit the tough times, we will have little motivation to fight through them without passion.

Many of us know the story of Abraham Lincoln. In 1832 Lincoln lost his job and was defeated for state legislature. In 1833 he failed in business. In 1835 Lincoln's sweetheart died. In 1836 he had nervous breakdown. In 1838 Lincoln was defeated for Speaker. In 1843 he was defeated for nomination for Congress. In 1846 Lincoln was elected to Congress but in 1848 lost the renomination. In 1849 he was rejected for land officer. In 1854 Lincoln was defeated for U.S. Senate. In 1856 he was defeated for nomination for Vice President. In 1858 Lincoln was again defeated for U.S. Senate. In 1860 Lincoln was elected president and of course went on become one of the most beloved presidents in U.S. history.

You may not know the story of Colonel Harland Sanders. When the Colonel was six, his father died. His mother was forced to go to work, and young Harland had to take care of his three-year-old brother and baby sister. This meant doing much of the family cooking. At age 10, he got his first job working on a nearby farm for $2 a month. When he was 12, his mother remarried and he left his home near Henryville, Ind., for a job on a farm in Greenwood, Ind. Sanders drifted from one job to another without much success, first as a 15-year-old streetcar conductor in New Albany, Ind., and then as a 16-year-old private, soldiering for six months in Cuba. He was a railroad fireman, studied law by correspondence, practiced in justice of the peace courts, sold insurance, operated an Ohio River steamboat ferry, sold tires, and operated service stations. When he was 40, the Colonel began cooking for hungry travelers who stopped at his service station in Corbin, Ky. He served folks on his own dining table in the living quarters of his service station. As more people started coming just for food, he moved across the street to a motel and restaurant. Over the next nine years, he perfected a secret blend of herbs and spices In the early 1950s a new interstate highway was planned to bypass the town. Seeing an end to his business, the Colonel auctioned off his operations. After paying his bills, he was reduced to living on his $105 Social Security checks. Confident of the quality of his fried chicken, the Colonel devoted himself to the chicken franchising business that he started in 1952. He traveled across the country by car from restaurant to restaurant. By 1964, Colonel Sanders had more than 600 franchised outlets for his chicken in the United States and Canada. That year, he sold his interest in the U.S. company for $2 million to a group of investors. And it all began with a 65-year-old gentleman who used his $105 Social Security check to start a business.

J.C. Penney is a name synonymous with department store. He first launched his chain of "The Golden Rule" stores in 1907. In 1910 his first wife died. Three years later, he incorporated as the J.C. Penney company. In 1923 his second wife died giving birth to his son. In 1929 the stock market crashed and he lost $40 million.By 1932, he had to sell out to satisfy...creditors. This left him virtually broke. ...Crushed in spirit from his loss and his health suddenly failing, Penney wound up in a Battle Creek, Michigan sanitarium. One morning he heard the distant singing of employees who gathered to start the day with God: Be not dismayed, whate'er betide, God will take care of you.... Penney followed the music to its source and slipped into a back row. He left a short time later a changed man, his health and spirit renewed, and ready to start the long climb back at age fifty-six. By 1951 there was a J.C. Penney store in every state, and for the first time sales surpassed $1 billion a year.

Consider Zig Ziglar. Born in southern rural Alabama, Ziglar and family soon moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi. As a child of the depression, Ziglar says he struggled with basic insecurities and small expectations for years. After a discharge from the Navy in 1946 Ziglar briefly attended college. However he soon abandoned his studies and began selling aluminum pots door to door for the Wearever Aluminum Company. But he still struggled: According to Ziglar, “During the first two and a half years all I did was prove they had been right not to hire me in the first place. It was really a question of survival. When our first baby was born, I had to literally go out and sell two sets of cookware in order to get her out of the hospital.” Ziglar’s turnaround came during a regional sales meeting when a Wearever executive pulled him aside and told Ziglar, who was shocked that the executive even knew his name, that he had been wasting his time for the past two and a half years. Although Ziglar thought he was hearing a prelude to a dismissal, the executive told him that if he’d only recognize his ability, he’d become “a great one.” Soon thereafter Ziglar was 2nd of some 7,000 Wearever salesmen. Ziglar has gone on to become arguably the best known motivational speaker in the world.

Our lives are little different than those described above. The question is whether we will pursue our passion as these men ultimately did or whether we will drift though a series of meaningless and passionless pursuits. If we are pursuing our passion, we will fight through the inevitable struggles. If we are not, we may have little motivation to perservere. Fight the good fight. Take hold of the life to which you are called . Press on toward the goal. It won't be easy. But anything else is a waste of time. What are you passionate about? What are you doing about it?