In a Heartbeat

My parents gave me In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy awhile back, and I just got around to reading it.  It is the story of the couple featured in the movie The Blind Side--in their own words.  The book shares their backgrounds and the circumstances that led to them welcoming Michael Oher to their family.  There are also brief chapters from the Tuohy children, Sandra Bullock, and Tim McGraw.  The book tells the story but also teaches lessons in parenting, love, and giving.  The books starts with a quote from Anne Frank that defines the entire book: "No one has ever become poor by giving."

I really enjoyed this book.  It kept me interested throughout the whole read, and I thought it really taught me a lot and inspired me to be more giving.  I think I'm always waiting for the right time to start donating to a cause, but if I wait till that abstract time, I will miss out on many opportunities right here and now.  I loved hearing about things like how they gave Christmas gifts to the garbage man, or paid to get a kid at the private school free lunch every day, or paid bills for a friend in need.  Giving is just a beautiful thing.  The authors emphasized that we don't have to look hard for a "cause"--the people in need are right in front of us, and we just have to respond to what we see.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)



Some quotes from the book that stood out to me:

• "True character was about how we treated people."
• "God gave us problems to see how we would handle them. And He gave us difference to see if we could learn to live with one another."
• "A person's true character is judged by how he acts and reacts to someone who has no consequence in his life whatsoever."
• "Along with a larger income came larger responsibilities....'To whom much is given much is required'....God gave us what we have to see what we're going to do with it."
• "We too often confuse the power of giving with the effectiveness of giving. Giving was powerful by itself; it needed no help from the recipient to be meaningful. Giving worked on the giver's heart and made it expand; that was the most important thing. What the recipient did with the gift--whether he used it to change the world or buy whiskey--was up to him. If what we gave went down a hole, then that was on the head and heart of the person on the receiving end of the gift. God would judge his heart, and that was His responsibility, not ours....My responsibility is to be happy with the act of giving, without expecting a result."
• "It's easy to be nice to George Bush. But the guy who cuts George Bush's yard, that's the one you're supposed to be nice to. Because not everyone is going to be nice to him."
• "Giving didn't always have to be tangible. It was just as important to give passion, time, faith, encouragement, or exposure to something new."
• "God puts things and people in your life for a reason. Usually it's to show you a path. And this clearly was a path that our family needed to go down."