Recently I spoke at a breakfast Chamber of Commerce meeting. Sitting at my table was a lady who told me she was in the insurance business. The next day she contacted me and was persistent about giving me a presentation. I agreed to give her 20 minutes just as a professional courtesy. She brought her boss with her and we had a pleasant 20 minute interaction, after which I told her I had chosen to keep my current coverage in place. She continued to contact me and I have responded briefly. Yesterday she called me again to ask my advice for growing her business. I gave her some brief tips as I was attempting to get off the phone and back to my important writing deadlines.
This morning I received a lengthy email from this lady – telling me among other things that she was sold by her birthmother at nine months old for $2000. Then at age seven, her adopted mother gave her away to someone else. She was nine years old when she heard in a Sunday School class that Jesus loved her. That was the first time she had ever been told that she was loved by anyone.
And now she’s thanking me profusely for listening, understanding and helping her. As I replay in my mind my interaction with her I’m amazed that she even felt cared for by me. I was encouraging and businesslike but certainly don’t feel that I went out of my way to show personal concern.
Three points for me to remember (and perhaps for you as well):
- I need to be sure that my natural interaction with people validates them as individuals.
- I want to be sensitive to the many hurting people who are hungry for someone to just love them. (Especially at this time of year.)
- What I see as important business may pale in comparison to a critical need right in front of me.
Dan Miller's Blog 
December 13, 2008 at 4:53 pm
your best post ever Dan. Thanks for sharing this and thanks for the reminder!
dm
December 13, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Dan – Thanks for your reminder. This is a very busy season for many people. It’s so easy to get caught up in completing a list of tasks and forget that there are people all around us who need our attention – even if it’s as simple as a smile.
December 14, 2008 at 1:30 am
Dan, What a great ‘story’ – it reminds me again how a story (and a storyteller) can reach the human heart. That’s the vision we have for our Studio Outreach Events. Thanks for the reminder and shot of courage to keep on pressing on — and thanks for all that you do!
December 14, 2008 at 11:41 am
Nice bog you have here. I pretty much lurk the internet when I’m bored and read all I can about the organic lifestyle, but I really liked you view on things. I’ll bookmark the site and subscribe to the feed!
December 15, 2008 at 1:38 am
Amen Dan!
This is an excellent reminder to all of us to stop and listen to people. Listen, participating in the conversation, and looking them in the eye all communicate we care.
The love of Jesus truly changes lives. We should all be more like Him.
December 15, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I had a similar experience last week with a disabled and sometimes homeless veteran who stopped into our office (structural engineers) with a highly unusual project that I knew I wanted no part of and that my company would want no part of. He had been to about a dozen firms in town. I listened to him for nearly 45 minutes and asked a few questions even though I knew in my mind I wouldn’t take the project. At then end, I referred him to another engineer who I thought would take on his crazy project.
This veteran came into my office the next day beaming and said that I had made his day and his week just for listening to him and that the other engineer was going to help him on the project. While I lost the opportunity to work on “chargeable” projects during that 45 minutes, I was able to show some respect and kindness to a person who defended our country, and was therefore time well spent.
December 15, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Wow, what a great blog–and an important reminder for this time of year…the time where we spend to much on things, preparation, and just doing that we can easily forget to just be, and enjoy the moment. I saw a quote the other day on a picture that said “the future is just a series of successive nows.” Such a great quote, and one that reminds me that the moments now that I can reach out to another person–those are precious, and more important than the nitpicky things I can get caught up in doing. Thanks for the poignant reminder of the most important gift in life–LOVE.
December 16, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Dan,
What a great reminder. People matter. They matter above everything else. Even if you can not spend a minute with someone, if you just smile at them that can be a powerful acknowledgment of their humanity. And it cost absolutely nothing.
December 16, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Insurance Gude’s typo is actually a good analogy for this situation. We are often bogged down with the things we think are important to us not realising that others can be bogged down in a worse situation than ourselves & really may need our help. In British slang, being in the bog is the equivalent of being in the john in the US. Here in Australia, the equivalent is in the dunny which is what we call outhouses. Sometimes we must fertilise others who are really in it.
December 16, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Another reminder that we need to keep the main thing people.
December 20, 2008 at 6:05 pm
There are many hurting people out there, many with past that we have no idea about. Sometimes if we take the time out of our busy lives to learn about them we would probably not act the way we do. Dan thank you for this article…..its almost like there is an invisible sign around are necks saying tell me about yourself.
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January 20, 2009 at 8:09 pm
This is a great reminder. I have to constantly remind myself that people have names not numbers. – Thanks!
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