Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Ferris Bueller taught all of us this valuable lesson in the 1986 classic film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And I think we’re all guilty of forgetting to look around every now and again.

We’ve got dry cleaning to pick up, kids to wrangle from soccer practice, presentations to prepare for, and emails to respond to. Life is busy and all we start to feel is how fast we’re going.

Stop.

Look around once in a while.

My recent visit with a Rescue Mission reminded me of the importance of following through on Ferris’s words.

I had the privilege and opportunity to meet with several men and women at the Rescue Mission, and seeing their circumstances and the challenges they faced pushed me out of my regular daily patterns and forced me to look around. I saw people facing difficulty, spoke with them about their hopes and newfound guidance in Him, and connected with them on a personal level.

It was in these moments that I was reminded these are the very individuals that we so often see in our fundraising appeals or featured in emails for support. I saw the tears well up in their eyes as they shared the heartache of their pasts and heard the crack in their voice as they spoke about the help they are receiving at the Rescue Mission.

I felt the life change that was sitting right in front of me.

A day at the office is filled with strategic meetings, deadlines, and challenges that test our ability to understand and adapt. Yet, because of the hustle and bustle of our everyday life, we often lose track of what we’re fighting for. So, it’s important to stop and ask ourselves—

What makes us passionate about our work? Who are we serving?

Meeting the men and women at the Rescue Mission reminded me of why I enjoy working with Douglas Shaw & Associates. I had the chance to stop and look around . . . and I didn’t miss a thing.

I encourage you to do the same.