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            Investing in another human being can be one of the greatest gifts you give them. In this day and age of the “me” society, we often forget to invest our time in someone other than ourselves. I believe this is a fatal flaw and one that gets overlooked in favor of some trite search for a successful existence. You know the old adage; the American dream. We expect to reach some destination of affluence and end up leaving a host of neglected souls in our wake. I pose the question why, why do we choose to devour resources to better our own existence and forget to return the favor for others that we come into contact with?

                I am sure we can all think of a time when we felt neglected. Maybe it was your parents, or friends, or religious leader who just seemed to look past you instead of into you. See these are the relationships that can have the largest impact on our social, spiritual, and psychological well being. Your entire self identity can be skewed because someone overlooks what you have to offer towards their daily life. What can it mean to actually invest into someone’s life and dreams?

                I am going to borrow some information I recently read from Rob Bell’s Book “Velvet Elvis.” In the book Bell gives us a history lesson on how one became a disciple in the time of Jesus. Apparently you had to be invested in by a rabbi who saw into you and saw your worth and ability to emulate them and become a rabbi within their tradition. If you were not chosen by a rabbi then you were forced to learn the family business. This history lesson then gives you a different view of how important it was in the way that Jesus chose his disciples. They were in effect rejects from other rabbis. So, if Jesus images and is God’s love for us in physical form, then we learn that God wants to invest in each and every one of us, even if we are rejected by those we hoped would invest in us. That is to say, investing in your neighbor is a Godly act. 

                I would say, as I have done before, that there are many alternative cultures that tend to do a better job of demonstrating this kind of love then the Christian community. At the same time when the Christian community does act as it should it can be an unstoppable train of love, as well as it should! Likewise, when we look at media, the most moving interactions; be it movie, tv, or music; occur when the media taps into the combination of redemption, investment, and reconciliation, basically making it something Godly.

                As I like to do, I shall now give an example of one such media. Recently, I have had the pleasure of watching several good movies in the past couple of months. Two of them have the same general example of investing, although the premise of the movies is different. In both “The Help” and “The Secret Lives of Bees” you are introduced to characters that invest in each other, despite what society says they should do. In both movies people look beyond color and social norms to see the person within. These are the images of God in our life.

                I realize that these are very easy movies to demonstrate a Godly idea with. After all, they are kind movies, with high and low points, but the overall sentiment is that there is an obvious right and wrong to the world. The great thing about these movies is that they are a slice of real life; nothing comes easy and without consequence. God works in these types of human choices. God makes good out of bad, working to reconcile us back to God’s good creation.

                I would like to end with an offering of my own life. Recently, I have had many people come into my life who seem to see something worth investing into. They are encouraging and engaging in my daily life. I would like to take a moment and thank them for the time they are putting in. There is no need to name names; you should know who you are. I would encourage each and every person who reads this to find someone and invest in them. Look for something that they don’t see in themselves and help bring that out of them. Tell them what they do well and be ENCOURAGING, not discouraging. Focus on the positive because we all have enough negative in our lives.

Shalom and God’s many blessings upon you.