Not Too Busy For Love

Last week I had the pleasure of spending some time with my new friend Tom who holds a top executive position at a prominent Atlanta company. He has worked with the company for several years and has advanced through the ranks and is now leading one of the largest projects the corporation is undertaking. He is working all around the world to put this project together.

As you can imagine, Tom is an extremely busy man. Just scheduling the meeting took me several months to get forty-five minutes of his time. When I went to go meet with him at his office I felt like I was going to meet the President of the United States. Tom mentioned to me that he was squeezing me in between appointments and he only had a limited amount of time we could spend together. Like I said… Tom is extremely busy.

But, not too busy…

Tom and his family had become friends with the owners of a local Thai restaurant near his home. The family had moved here from Thailand to start this small business. Shortly after getting to know the couple Tom learned that the husband had had a major heart attack and had died. Tom’s heart was moved with compassion for this lady and her family and so he asked if there was something he could do for his new friends.

Suzy, the wife, then told Tom how her husband had purchased several thousand book bags, over the shoulder bags, gym bags, and duffel bags to open a second small business. Now that her husband had passed away she was stuck with all these bags. She suggested that maybe Tom could help her find a home for them. Tom then said to Suzy that he would make some calls and see where they could donate the bags to charity.

That is what brought Tom and me together… He called me just before Thanksgiving and asked if we could receive 1,000+ various bags. I told him that we could and that we would love to use them at our upcoming outreach.

So, this super busy business man and his son decided to take their Saturday to rent a truck, drive to Suzy’s house, load the bags, and deliver them to SHO and another large Atlanta charity.

SHO then distributed 700+ bags the Saturday after Thanksgiving to homeless men and women who desperately needed something to tote their items around in. The remainder of the bags were given out at Christmas to children who needed a new bag to finish out the school year. All in all close to 1,200 people were impacted by Tom’s single act of kindness.

Friends, we all have so much that we are trying to accomplish out of our day to day lives. I know what it feels like to be busy and overloaded with all that life has thrown at us. I hope that Tom’s story will be a reminder to us all to not become too busy to love. Be sensitive to see how your life can make a difference in someone else’s. You never know when the next opportunity to live love will appear.