HAVE you invested in something and now reaping its benefits?
My life in high school was a fruit of meaningful investment of the people I called life mentors.
My teenage life was mostly spent in school events. During this stage, I experienced the thrill of being adventurous, the instability of my emotions, and the pressure to fit in with the other kids. It was a rollercoaster experience teenage years. But thank God there were people who risked to invest in me.
Alpha Diadem Youth Center is a place in Cavite City where I and my other co-students used to spend our vacant time. Students were free to hang around, play, and connect with peers. The center provided people to guide the students and mentor them about life and building relationships.
Let me walk you through my memory lane and show you how I became their protege.
First, I discovered and developed my abilities there. As a teenager, I was curious about many things. I needed to express myself. My three life mentors taught me to appreciate music and try sports. I learned to sing and to play the guitar. I also became good with table tennis, the sport that made me a varsity player, and our school representative in many competitions.
I was able to experience fun and adventure while being cradled in a safe environment. Every after-school year, I attended camps offered by the center. I enjoyed every activity that other youth of my age would love to do — like swimming, hiking, cook-out at the Makiling Jamboree campsite. Right before hearing God’s word at night, campers were treated to an evening of fun where we showed off our talents and challenged each other either with games and exhortation.
There, I became mindful of God’s presence and began to understand myself. I improved with my social skills, too. Eventually, this experience had influenced me when I had to choose my career path.
The last thing that I appreciated most as a protege, was the relationship that mentors and I built and shared those years. With many life mentors I had, let me tell you about ate Precy Cidamon.
Ate Precy, which we fondly called her, who at that time was at her prime and yet she devoted her life and time into investing in the lives of many young people. Like most life mentors, she took the effort to connect and guide me. She was there to join me during the important events of my life — my 18th birthday, wedding, and even during mourning.
She patiently listened to my nonsense stories and was always willing to understand my issues and concerns as a teenager.
God’s existence and care became real to me because of her Bible studies and the way how she lived up to those teachings. I will never forget how happy I was to receive my first new Bible from her.
Currently, I work as a missionary counselor, serving young men and women who want to be servants and leaders in the church. What I learned and experienced from the past is what I am doing now and in the future, since I have been involved in mentoring people in church and school. This is the kind of investment I am into right now, and it is worth it.
Actor Denzel Washington once said: “Show me a successful individual, and I’ll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or her life. I don’t care what you do for a living — if you do it well, I’m sure there was someone cheering you on or showing the way. A mentor.”
May I then ask you, did somebody invest in you? Now is your time to invest in others.
