Sacrifice vs. Investment

This week on KLOVE, the DJ's highlighted a story about a wife who gave her husband an unusual gift for Valentine's Day, a kidney.  This wife donated one of her kidneys to her husband who desperately needed a new one.  The key statement that caught my attention was that the wife said she "didn't view giving up her kidney for her husband as a sacrifice, but as as an investment."  Obviously she felt she was investing into both of their futures because without a new kidney, her husband would not live.  But with a new kidney, her kidney, he would be given the gift of a longer life and more time spent together. 

Then I started to think about her statement in a different way.  Are there everyday things that I could view not as a sacrifice, but as an investment?  And if I did change my perspective on it, would my life be different?  What if the next time a frustrated foster parent calls me and I patiently listen I don't view it as a sacrifice of my time and all the other things that I need to be doing, but as an investment into that family and the sustained placement of a child?  (by the way, this is easily 40% of my job, just providing a listening ear for someone who needs to vent.  Maybe I should have gone into counseling after all.)  Or what if instead of simply sending a friendly text to one of my life group girls so I don't have to sacrifice time from my already busy schedule, I decide to invest in her by spending one on one time with her over coffee?  What if instead of viewing exercising in the morning as a sacrifice of my precious sleep, I viewed it as an investment into my health and well being?  What if I viewed my time with the Lord each day as an investment into our relationship, instead of a sacrifice of something else (TV, reading for fun, sleep, time with friends, etc.)?  What if I saw my trips back home to be with my family, or those dreaded family reunions (anyone else have those?) as an investment into the family I love, instead of the sacrifice of my own desires for the weekend?  Or what if I was more wise in holding my tongue and sacrificed my desire to be right or to be in control and instead saw it as an investment into the other person by not taking over and allowing them to figure things out?

As I thought about it, I realized that it's really all just a shift in perspective.  Instead of looking at what I'm giving up, or sacrificing, and focusing on myself, I need to see how I am investing in others, in those I love, and also in my future.  My prayer is that going forward, I won't forget about this small perspective shift that can make a huge difference.