Welcome to this week’s edition of the Five Minute Friday link-up!

You can click here to learn more about the link-up and click here to join the FMF email list to receive weekly writing prompts in your inbox.

This week’s FMF writing prompt is: INVEST

Starting my timer for five minutes, and . . . GO.

My youngest kid has exactly one week left of high school and two weeks until graduation. (Hold me.)

These past few weeks have been filled with all the “final” things, including a senior awards ceremony at the school.

I left with such a deep gratitude for all of the teachers who pour so much of their lives into these kids. They invest not only their time, but also their emotional energy, their knowledge and wisdom, their prayers, their advice, and so much more . . . and at a small Christian school, I’m sure they don’t get a significant financial return. And yet, they keep coming back.

Yesterday I took some Costco cake to the teacher’s lounge as a very small token of my appreciation for the way the whole staff have invested in my kids over the past four years.

(Also, I’m just super glad I didn’t have to keep homeschooling through high school, ha!) 😉

Reflecting on the profound and lasting impact so many of these teachers and staff have had on my kids, it made me consider what I can do to “pay it forward.”

Who am I investing in? How am I spending my time and using the gifts God has given to invest in the lives of others, even if only in a small way?

One “curse” of the current American culture (in my opinion, at least) is that so many of us are just so stinkin’ busy. (And in many cases, we do it to ourselves!) (Raising my hand in confession.)

Are there things we need to pause or let go of altogether for the sake of making a stronger impact in the lives of others?

STOP.

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Join us with your own five-minute freewrite on the prompt, INVEST, below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment: