It's A Brighter Life

Have you ever wondered whether or not you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing? I mean, I’m just a light bulb salesman, so how important can that be? How can I make a difference…and is this what God intended for me to do when he planted my seed in this overgrown vineyard we call our world? How do we ever really know if we’re on the right path?

 

Last week I received an unusual email from a potential customer located really far away. Apparently they’re a company that specializes in making affordable toys for children and they had a difficult lighting problem. Their employees were struggling due to poor light levels in their main warehouse caused by the extreme height of the ceilings. As a lighting consultant, that’s a problem right up my alley so I emailed their Rep, “If you need a lighting problem solved…I can definitely do that! The only problem was that their facility was 3,300 miles away in a city called North Pole, Alaska.

 

When the Rep offered to pick up some of my travel expenses to their location, I was surprised but immediately said yes for two reasons. First, it seemed like a challenging lighting problem…and of course I love challenges. Second, a company that brightens the lives of children is definitely a company worth helping. So I packed my bags (and my foot-candle meter) and took off for the airport. The Rep suggested I stay at the Hotel North Pole, so I booked a room on line there for two nights.

Hotel North Pole - 449 N. Santa Claus Lane, North Pole, AK 99705

The next day the Rep, an older gray haired man named Nicolas Abraham, picked me up and drove me to their main warehouse. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was the largest manufacturing complex I had ever seen, hundreds of thousands of square feet with super high ceilings. The light fixtures were so high I had to ride a huge forklift 50’ up to the ceiling to identify the lamp types. Once I had the information on the lamp types I knew I had a solution. They were using “wide 60 degree flood lamps” when what they really needed were “narrow 15 degree spot lamps” that would project light all the way to the floor of the facility. They were thrilled with my suggestion because they thought they needed expensive new fixtures, when in fact all they needed were different light bulbs.

 

Nicolas was so happy with my recommendation that he wanted me to meet the CEO. As we walked down a long hallway, I asked him how he got started in the business and he proceeded to tell me how he and his wife, Sarah, had tried for over 30 years to have a baby. When she finally got pregnant they were both fairly old and couldn’t believe it was finally happening. They considered it a miracle and thanked God over and over again for the blessing of their baby boy, whom they named Isaac to honor God. Nicolas told me he and his wife decided long ago that making and distributing affordable toys for needy children was their way to “give back” for all the blessings they had received. 

 

When we finally arrived at the CEO’s office, I was totally surprised by what I saw. An elderly woman dressed all in red greeted me with a huge smile. She was the friendliest, nicest, jolliest woman I had ever met. As she put her arms around me and gave me a huge hug, Nicolas said, “Meet my wife Sarah, the love of my life and co-founder of this company. You see, after God blessed us with our son, we decided to dedicate our lives to making children smile, especially those who don’t have much to smile about, so Sarah runs the manufacturing side of the business and I take care of distribution. Actually it requires the help of hundreds of employees, whom I call my “special elves” to handle distribution, but every year we make it happen.”

 

I stood speechless for a long time. Finally I spoke up, “Nicolas, I am amazed at what you and your wife have accomplished. You two are just like a real life Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. You must feel really good about the work you do, in fact, maybe I should start calling you Saint Nick.” Nicolas laughed and said, “Well, all I can say is…we do it out of love, therefore we love what we do. And I might add, with your help with our lighting….we can now do even more for the children!”

 

On the long flight home I kept thinking about what Nicolas said, “We love what we do.” It started to dawn on me that, I too - love what I do! Maybe it’s only light bulbs, but I really enjoy working with my fellow employees, plus our vendors give us great support and our customers are the best people you could ever meet. Maybe this truly is what I was meant to do on this earth, and maybe, just maybe, I am on the right path…which is to “brighten up” the lives of other people. I can definitely do that!

Nicolas and Sarah at home with Isaac

 Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing and giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.

The good you do for others is good you do yourself.

~ Norman Wesley Brooks