I\u2019m guessing that most of you are familiar with the movie \u201cThe Blind Side\u201d.\u00a0 Great movie, great message.\u00a0 I was so intrigued with the Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy (Too-wee) family I decided to read their book \u201cIn a Heartbeat\u201d, to find out what kind of people they really were.<\/p>\n
I learned that the story depicted in the movie was not their one and only gift to the world.\u00a0 This family practices charity every day of their lives.\u00a0 They have \u201csaved\u201d more than one young man.\u00a0 They have reached out to help others, and they have influenced countless others to do the same.<\/p>\n
The Tuohy\u2019s call what they do the Popcorn Theory: \u00a0“You can\u2019t help everyone.\u00a0 But you can try to help the hot ones who pop right up in front of your face.\u00a0 The Popcorn Theory is about noticing others.\u201d\u00a0 They believe in being a cheerful giver.\u00a0 Life, to them, is a test to prove what they can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was why [God] gave us our problems, pleasures, assets, and deficits.\u00a0 It was why He made people black, white, Latino, and Asian; why people were wealthy, poor, and middle class.\u00a0 It was all part of the Big Test, and one of the questions on the test was, \u2018What do you do with difference?\u2019\u00a0 God gave us problems to see how we would handle them.\u00a0 and He gave us difference to see if we could learn to live with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I read that, I decided I could learn something from these people.<\/p>\n
Sandra Bullock (the actress who played Leigh Anne Tuohy) was concerned about meeting this family, because she is wary of people who wave their religion like a banner in the air.\u00a0 Her reaction to those people is, \u201cI might not go to church every day, but I know I try to do the right thing, whereas you\u2019re going to church and you\u2019re still sleeping around on your wife and spending everybody else\u2019s money.\u00a0 How are you better than I am?\u201d\u00a0 She discovered the Tuohy\u2019s weren\u2019t \u201cthose people\u201d, but they actually talked the talk, and walked the walk.<\/p>\n
Here is a short list of some of the examples I picked up from this good, and decent, family.<\/p>\n
At one point, the family almost went bankrupt.\u00a0 The economy took a dive, and fast food places began popping up everywhere, all which affected their income greatly. \u00a0Leigh Anne commented, \u201cBut a crisis, if you survive it, can be a healthy thing.\u00a0 It forces you to check yourself; it reminds you that with too much comfort, rot can set in.\u00a0 It reduces you to basics, to what\u2019s really important in your life.\u201d\u00a0 They both realized their children were healthy and happy, and their marriage was strong.\u00a0 They could survive this.\u00a0 \u201cFor a while, the financial pressures meant that we had to curb our spending and we couldn\u2019t give as freely as we had.\u00a0 But we still had plenty to give, we realized, both tangibly and intangibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Can the sisters of the Relief Society, whose motto is \u201cCharity Never Faileth\u201d do any less?\u00a0 We can all stretch more, reach out farther, extend ourselves again, and serve as the Master showed us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m guessing that most of you are familiar with the movie \u201cThe Blind Side\u201d.\u00a0 Great movie, great message.\u00a0 I was so intrigued with the Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy (Too-wee) family I decided to read their book \u201cIn a Heartbeat\u201d, to find out what kind of people they really were. I learned that the story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[483,474],"tags":[630,410,621],"class_list":["post-2302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acts-of-charity","category-home-2","tag-charity","tag-example","tag-service"],"yoast_head":"\n