How do you show love when there’s a time crunch?
It was uncommonly cold in Los Angeles the past week or so and our office building kept blasting the air conditioning. I would walk around the office and see all our employees wearing extra sweaters, coats, and even blankets as they worked!
Los Angeles doesn’t exactly have a lot of cold, snowy days, so I guess by other people’s standards, the weather seemed fine. But it felt frigid in the office! I decided to get every single employee at PCG (Plan C Group) a mug, put in some hot cocoa powder with a marshmallow, and attach a customized note!
Great idea, I thought, and it cuts down on using plastic cups at the water cooler too! I gave myself a pat on the back.
Problem? I had only 10 minutes to distribute the cups because of an emergency meeting. How do you show love when you only have ten minutes! If it was up to me, I would have handed out the cups, chatted, and caught up with every single person. Unfortunately, at that moment, I did not have the time. On top of that, most employees had left early for the weekend– what do you do when your act of kindness “fails”?
These past few weeks have been so busy, yet very focused. I’m amazed I’m still able to get everything I need to get done with the time that I have in each day. I’m working currently on my new music album; I am also running a media/entertainment company that produces film/TV/music, while also being a pastor locally and internationally. I don’t know how it all works together at times, but somehow I find a way to make it all happen. Trust me, I do eat, exercise and sleep, but you have to remain extremely focused.
I find it hard to stay focused the older I get because with age comes more responsibilities, more relationships and more requests from people to do more things. How do you get everything done in a day? How do we get everything done in a week? I used to find myself wanting to break down because so many people wanted my time, wanted me to do something for them, or expectations and pressures from other external forces would mount up on me. Gradually, through time I have learned how to stay focused by keeping a few disciplines in my life consistent. What I have learned in order to stay focused is to learn how to say no to the unnecessary and yes to the necessary. Second is to make sure I practice time management. Thirdly,
On possibly the hottest day in LA, I had this brilliant idea of singing in the sun.
I always pass by a park on my way to work and I would see all the park patrons sweating in the sun. Some of them looked pretty miserable. Some of them were there killing time, some others were just lounging. I thought about maybe bring bottles of water or something for them, but it struck me that I could offer them a very unique experience.
I asked my awesome sister, Esna Yoon (check out http://www.youtube.com/esnathesinger) if she could accompany me as the “lead singer” of my 365 Days of Love episode of singing to park patrons. Think of Christmas caroling, except in the summer. Esna, being the awesome sport she is, said “OF COURSE!”
We printed out the lyrics to a couple of popular love songs and headed out to the park. When we arrived– it was blazing hot. Oh wait– did I mention… I can’t sing? Did I also mention that we barely knew most of the songs?
When I think of humility, I think of someone who listens, someone who is meek, someone who is a learner, someone who doesn’t think too highly of themselve, yet thinks more highly of others. I think of someone who is constantly serving others, championing others and living a life of selflessness. A person who is not about me, me, me! But a person who is about “you, you, you!” This person doesn’t care so much who gets the credit, as long as the greater good is achieved. Nor does this person try to show off or needs people’s attention, because this person is content with who they are and being faithful to doing what they know is right.
At the same time, I think humility has to do with honesty. I once heard someone say, “Humility is being honest with who you really are.” It’s not denying your issues, neither is it trying to be falsely humble by not acknowledging the truth of who you really are. But humility is a confidence that comes from knowing the truth and not being afraid to acknowledge it or at times even confront it. A humble person is a secure person. One who doesn’t need the praise of man, but only the quite praise of God.
To be humble means:
Yeah– not for ice cream.
Sometimes stress just gets to ya. I know exactly how that feels. Sometimes at my worst moments, I feel like my head is going to explode with all the different problems and stresses going on. I’m not perfect– I’m human, I can’t handle a lot of things. Thankfully, I know I’m too blessed to be stressed.
In my identity in Christ, I know I can rise above the circumstances around me. But sometimes you just have to take the first step to freedom and identify what’s bothering you and let it out without harming yourself or others. So my team and I had this interesting idea of asking people on the streets of Los Angeles to let out their stress with just a brown paper bag.
We encouraged people to yell, scream, or even blow their issues into a paper bag, then POP it. At first some people seemed pretty reluctant, but after a while, everyone on the block started feelin’ it! It was surprisingly fun and we all shared a lot of laughs!
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