I am not motivated by finances, at least not very much. Don't get me wrong, I want to be able to pay my bills, have good doctors and eat at restaurants that don't have drive-thrus. But, if you want me to pay attention, don't speak about financial compensation. Inspire me.
One of the most inspiring people I have known just moved out of our house. When I first met Ashley Reynolds she asked if she could volunteer with our youth ministry at the Pacific Union College Church. This happened all the time. College students who weren't sure how college was going to work out and who were longing for a whif of their high school days would eagerly ask to be a "leader" in our ministry. As soon as they realized they were going to make friends and have a great time at college they would lose interest in our little ministry. Ashley is the only one who ever showed up. And she kept showing up. And she continued to be present in the lives of our students. She was simply inspiring with her commitment and consistency.
Ash began to join our family during the winter of 2008, when I had to leave my wife, who at the time was pregnant with Elle, and drag 14 high school kids around Egypt. We needed someone to stay with Deb. Ash needed a place to crash. It worked perfectly. But it turned into more than crashing. She became a part of our family. She loved on our dog, on us and especially on Eleanor. She became "auntie". She inspires me to love people less cautiously, more selflessly, more openly.
Ashley has a deep sense that she has been placed on this earth to help people. Her face lights up when she talks about working with autistic children - the fuel behind switching majors to social work. Where others would be concentrating on careers with significant financial rewards, Ash is pursuing a richness of life that might not result in the nicest car, but will be see - experienced - in the faces of those she is going to help.
Ashley is going to build a lot of wells. This spring, Ashley fell in passionately in love with Charity:Water. Instead of donating a few dollars and then moving on, Ash dove into learning about the need for clean water around the world, how charity:water is meeting this incredible need and pledging all her considerable talent, energy and goodness to the cause. Instead of looking forward to her birthday as an opportunity to collect gifts and the money every college students need, she decided to give her birthday away to charity:water - asking her friends and family to donate $23 instead of buying her anything. As a college student who works all the time, doesn't benefit from the family financial support I did in college, I find this breathtakingly inspirational.
Ashley has gone back to school. It is quieter. A little sadder. But our family is bigger and better because Ashley has chosen to join us, to love us and to inspire us.
She hasn't given us a dime. But she has made us better by inspiring us with her incredible life.
Go get em, Ash.
