A Letter From an Angel
Overcoming commitment-phobia to become an Angel Investor
Joe Fisher became an Angel Investor earlier this year and just last week sent this letter:
“Little did I know that a newsletter would turn out to be so special. After all, I’d been supporting CMMB whenever I could, for some years, and thought I knew fairly well the work that they were doing. I expected the letter to be just an update on their projects, but this letter was different. In it, CMMB shared about a program I was not aware of, and they asked for an on-going commitment. The Angel Investor program offers the opportunity for a one to one relationship of support to a specific child in need, not just an indeterminate individual being helped collectively in a community somewhere in a disadvantaged part of the world.
The idea appealed to me, and so I checked out the Angel Investor program on the CMMB website. I was moved by the personal stories of all the children who just need a little help so that they can achieve their God-given potential. I was definitely interested, but hesitant.
Over the next several days, I kept returning to the website, drawn by the stories of these children with simple needs; God’s children, who inherently deserve a chance at life, a chance to grow and to develop to their best, and who ask for so very little.
Although I was particularly touched by the story of Jonel, a Peruvian boy with cerebral palsy who had been abandoned by his parents and is being raised by his grandparents, I remained hesitant. After all, supporting a seven year-old boy with special health care needs would mean a long-term commitment. In the past, it wouldn’t have been unusual for me to somehow rationalize myself out of making such a commitment, but this time, thankfully, was different.
Jonel at the therapy center.
Maybe it was because I had just finished reading Matthew Kelly’s, Resisting Happiness, where he equates resisting God’s will for our lives with resisting happiness. I don’t know, but I do know that for some reason, this time, instead of listening to all of the doubts ringing in my head, I decided to listen to God’s “still small voice”, and do what I thought he wanted me to do.
After making the commitment to support Jonel, I was filled with a sense of joy for being able to help, in a real, tangible way, a real person; a little boy with a beautiful face and a name I now know. And in this case, I also feel blessed to be able to help in a small way Jonel’s grandparents, who I think are unquestionably, the saints in this story.
Jonel with his grandmother
Incidentally, maybe even amusingly, a short time after making my commitment to support Jonel, I unexpectedly received an extra gift of affirmation about my decision when I remembered that my dogs had also once been abandoned by someone. I said yes to those commitments also, and they too have been a continual source of joy in my life.
I have no doubt that supporting Jonel was the right decision, and the joy that I derive from learning more about him, and the updates about his progress are proof of that. Jonel has truly blessed my life.”
Joe Fisher