Invest: [inˈvest] VERB
- expend money with the expectation of achieving a profit or material result by putting it into financial schemes, shares, or property, or by using it to develop a commercial venture
- (invest someone/something with) provide or endow someone or something with (a particular quality or attribute)
The last several weeks, as I watch our youngest son explore the world around him, his curiosity grows and his world expands outside of an institution’s walls, I pray for help. Help to combat six years of isolation and damage done by those who were doing the best they could, with what they had and knew. The whispers that reach deep inside me, to the depths of my heart, say, “invest.”
“How?” I ask.
“What more can I do to unlock the child that is stuck deep inside?” I plead.
“Invest.” Is all I hear whispered back to my soul.
Invest. It is a simple but challenging word. Investing is the most selfless act we can give to any one person. Yet, it will cost us the things that we tend to value most: our time, resources, and effort. When we take the time to invest in a product, business, organization, or person, it shows that we believe they are more than what meets the eye. They or it have value. We believe in their or its potential. If we truly want to invest in something, we will fully engage in order to reap the reward. We give our time, spend our resources, and expend the effort to see them succeed. We have no issue going the distance and reaping the reward.
But….
What if we don’t? What if we don’t take the time? Spend our resources? Expend the effort? What if we make excuses as to why we shouldn’t or can’t do something? What if we say, “I can’t go because ______.” Or “I don’t have enough _________ to make a difference.” Or “I don’t have the experience in _______.” Or what if we do decide to invest, will we wonder how much is enough? Or feel guilty when it doesn’t appear to be enough? 
The truth is, enough is what you can afford to give of your time, resources, and effort. We, as humans, think that our selfless acts have to amount to big extravagant gifts. We think we have to be an Oprah Winfrey, or Bill Gates, or some other celebrity or millionaire. How flawed we are in that thinking. It’s everyday heroes that make the biggest difference in the lives of people.
It’s the little boy who decides to make para-chord bracelets and sell them to raise money to help build an orphanage in Uganda.
It’s the guy who buys groceries for the single mom and her children.
It’s the woman who sees the homeless man and sits and talks with him about how he got where he is today never knowing that he was thinking of taking his own life just moments before she sat down.
It’s you and me, when we decide to step outside of ourselves and our usual routine, to help someone else, expecting absolutely nothing in return.
But what does this all mean? Check back next time and I’ll finish the story.
Written by Laurie Enoch Board of Directors Director of Sponsorship and Funding