“Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love; see that ye refrain from idleness.” (Alma 38:12). When we are truly passionate about something, all we want to do is gallop full-tilt with complete abandon towards the object of our passion. Passion does not concern itself with sustainability or practicality. If we are passionate about chocolate cake, then we want to eat chocolate cake until we burst. If we're passionate about collecting decorative birdhouses, then we won't stop until we've crammed every nook and cranny of our home with more and more birdhouses. Passion is often conflated with love because passion is a part of love. Sometimes it feels like the only part of love that matters. But there are many other facets of love besides just passion. Patience, kindness, affection, trust, tenderness, respect, compassion, devotion - all of these are also part of love, and many more besides. But if we allow our passion to run unchecked, it will use up all of our love faster than we can replace it. We won't have enough energy or space in our heart for patience and respect and all of the rest because our unbridled passion will have unwisely burned through all of our reserves of love too quickly. Bridling our passions does not mean that we must stifle or eradicate passion from our lives. We can no more have love without passion than we can have love without kindness or devotion or trust. But if we temper our passion and enthusiasm with wisdom and prudence, then we won't find ourselves constantly running on empty. We will be filled with love because we didn’t let it all spill out in one glorious but all too brief burst. A horse with a bridle can still run at full gallop when the rider judges that a gallop is appropriate, but it will also be able to go the distance because the rider understands when to rein it in and conserve its strength. It is the same for us. Bridling our passion does not mean that we can't still let it loose occasionally and feel that burning heat of passion at full gallop, but it does mean that we won't burn ourselves out and end up cold and empty because all of the love in our hearts was used up too quickly. Passion is a wonderful, amazing, indispensable part of love. We can't have true love without it. But if we will bridle our passion so that ultimately we decide when it should trot or canter and when it should gallop, then we will be filled with love and have more opportunities to let our passion run.
