Invest in People

Invest in People
God has been revealing himself to me in a variety of ways this summer as life unfolds. I decided to read The Purpose Driven Life this summer as a way to just draw near to him and to grow both in my faith and as a person. So I started reading about 22 days ago and the transformation has been huge. I consider myself a very social person. I like people. I like talking with people, I like serving people, I like being surrounded by people and lucky for me God has placed some pretty amazing people in my life. However this summer several of my people have gone off to do great things. One roommate is biking across the country! (www.bikeandbuild.com) Another is the ski director at a girl’s summer camp in New York. (www.pointopines.com/) Another has a five week internship in Guatemala! One of my oldest friends has decided to work on the island all summer long and just like any other year friends go home for the summer.
This left me wondering who I was going to hang out with this summer and what I was going to be doing. Sure enough God answered me through this little book that is The Purpose Driven Life. In the book each week has a different God lesson and last weeks lesson was “You were created for God’s Family.” Throughout the week the focus included everything from God’s love for us, to our love for others. It spoke of community and fellowship and what real, genuine relationships look like. It was so wonderful! Kind of like a much needed slap in the face. While I had been worried about all of the people that wouldn’t be in my life everyday I had completely forgotten about the people that WOULD be. One of my favorite verses is 1 Cor. 13:3 which says,
“If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
I have been dwelling on this verse off and on since my spring break trip in March and it gets more and more powerful with time. I mean it states right there that Love is all that matters. You can do a lot of things but if you aren’t doing them in love they are pointless. Another verse that really hit me was Romans 12:5 which says,
“so in Christ we who are many form ONE body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
So I asked God how the two relate and his answer was simple. There is an entire body of believers that are part of Christ’s family just like I am! I have been using this realization to build stronger relationships with many people and as a result they are helping me grow in so many ways. I have been able to build genuine relationships with beautiful women of God. We encourage each other and hold each other accountable. We eat together and we serve together. We dive into the word and discuss it with each other. We push each other to grow in our prayer life and in our knowledge of scripture. I am so so so thankful for these girls. Truthfully I don’t think that I thank Him or them enough for their presence in my life. They are constantly pouring into me and me into them and it’s a beautiful thing. So I guess the lesson for this week is that God has a plan and it’s way better than my plan.
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13
God knew exactly what he was doing sending my friends all over the world to spread the gospel and he knew exactly what he was doing by keeping me here. By keeping me here he has pout me in a position to realize that investing in people is what really matters. Relationships built on the foundation of God, and therefore love, are what life is all about. So with that I encourage you to INVEST IN PEOPLE! People you just met, people you’ve known for years. People you see in passing, people you see everyday. INVEST IN PEOPLE.