Be A Life-Giving Person
By Steve Gahagen
I recently traveled to Columbus, Ohio for a few days to hang out with my daughter Rachael, her husband Clint, and especially their three-month-old twin boys (Silas and Elliot). While there we decided to go on an adventure and drive 300+ miles to Buffalo, NY to surprise my mom (great grandma) with the twins. Because of health reasons, she has been unable to travel to see them. It’s been so heartbreaking because my mom is one of those people who loves babies. She could hold a baby all day long.
After a 7.5 hour trip (normally 5.5 but lengthened because of stops to refuel the twins), we made it to my mom’s apartment and knocked on the door. It was worth every mile to see her face as she opened the door and saw the two twins sitting in their carseats. It was one of those sacred and rare moments of life. For the next two days she held those boys as often as she could and of course cried when we had to leave. Tears like that are always good.
It’s such a gift and so much fun when we can breathe life into others through surprising and meaningful moments. There is nothing quite like bringing joy to others that also brings a powerful sense of satisfaction to us. In moments like these we are reminded that this is what life is all about.
We most often think of strengths in terms of how we use our talents to be more effective at work. But they are also powerful when we leverage our strengths to breathe life into others outside of work.
Questions to consider
Can you think of a way you leveraged your strengths to breathe life into someone else?
What strengths could you leverage to see and execute opportunities to create powerful experiences for others? (For example Rachael is strategic and had a plan on how to best manage the babies on that long car ride so they would be happy when we arrived.)
Is there someone that comes to mind who you could breathe life into by leveraging your strengths?