Random Thoughts

Enjoy Life Wherever You Are
One day, I was in the airport for a 12noon flight for Cebu.
And then I heard the dreaded announcement come. “There will be a delay for our flight to Cebu. Projected time of departure is at 7pm.”
You should have heard the uproar.
People went wild.
Everyone rushed to the counter.
I pitied the airline staff. They faced an angry mob that was ready to lynch them.
Hey, I totally understand them. Some of them had meetings, appointments, etc.
One guy in that mob broke the Guiness of World Records for the number of curse words a human can say in one minute.
The other guy beside him was multi-lingual. He cursed in 7 different languages. English, Tagalog, Cebuano, Waray,…
I waited on my seat until everyone was gone.
I stood up and approached the hapless, frazzled young woman behind the desk.
“I’m happy the flight is delayed,” I smiled.
The girl couldn’t quite understand me. “Excuse me?” she asked.
I smiled again, “I said I’m happy the flight is delayed. I’m sure there’s a good reason for it. And thank you very much for doing a good job despite what happened.”
She smiled back, “Thank you, sir.” I thought she wanted to hug me.
I went back to my seat and I felt like a little boy on Christmas Eve. Because I had this giant gift in front of me: 7 hours of doing nothing. I felt so happy.
I prayed. I read. I wrote. I talked to the people beside me. I walked for my exercise. I ate. I had a mini-vacation right there in the airport!
Sure, I had a talk in Cebu—and I might come late.
But I told myself, I am where I am because God wants me to be here.
My talk in Cebu was supposed to be 7pm.
I arrived at 9pm. I was two hours late.
But when I arrived, the church was still full. People didn’t leave. While I wasn’t there, our local leaders preached to them. And I gave my talk. So people told me, “We didn’t have a prayer meeting. We had a recollection!”
They were blessed.
I was blessed.

Slow Down!

Get rid of hurry from your life.
John Ortberg said, “Hurry isn’t just a disordered schedule but a disordered heart.” I agree. Because of this, he says that our society is rich in things but extremely poor in time.
We don’t have time for family, for people, for relationships.
We don’t have time for ourselves—to reflect, to pray, to breathe, to rest, to enjoy God’s blessings now.
The solution? Learn to slow down.
Here are tips (some from me and some from John Ortberg) on how to remove hurry from our lives.
1. Deliberately drive in the slow lane on the expressway.
If you do this, you’ll arrive home perhaps ten minutes later. But you’ll be less angry, less stressed, and less tired. Here’s what you can do: Pray for all the cars that go ahead of you. Sing a song to God. Imagine God seated beside you.
2. Deliberately park at the farthest spot available in the parking lot.
Result? You won’t have to fight over the nearest parking spots; You won’t have to circle around for hours; and you’re giving your body exercise by the extra walk.
3. Deliberately choose the longest line in the grocery.
We usually look for the shortest. Do the opposite. Look for the longest line. You can be sure no one will fight you over it. Enjoy. Pray. Smile. Bless the people around you.
4. Deliberately chew your food slowly.
As my friend says, “Food is God’s love made edible.” So enjoy your food. Relish it. Savor the taste. It’ll help your digestion. More importantly, it’ll calm you. You’ll appreciate your food more. You’ll be more grateful to God for your food.
5. Deliberately put people before things.
“Waste” time with your loved ones. Laugh, play, and do nothing together. Learn the “art of being” as a group. Last week, I brought all the top leaders of Light of Jesus to the beach for three days. We played charades together. We looked pretty insane. It was wonderful. People ask me why Light of Jesus has remained strong after 30 years. One reason: We play a lot. We have 4 vacations a year!
6. Deliberately take time to enjoy God’s Presence alone.
Each day, spend ten, fifteen, or thirty minutes hanging out with God. Just simply be with Him. Just rest in Him. You can sit before the Blessed Sacrament. Or go under a tree or take a walk. God says, “Be still and know that I am God.”
7. Deliberately stop watching TV.
People watch an average of 4 hours of TV everyday. That means when you reach 65 years old, you would have spent 9 years of your life watching TV. You wake up one day and ask yourself, “Where did my life go?” Remember that failure is not an act but a habit. Instead of watching TV, read a book instead. Or hold an entertainment night as a family. Or sing together. Or take up a hobby. Or play a musical instrument. Or volunteer and serve God in a ministry.
8. Deliberately take lots of vacations.
People work non-stop all their life, retire at age 65, and take a long vacation. Usually, they drop dead after a few years. Because they lose their purpose. I’ll teach you a better way, and I’ve been practicing this for some years now: Take lots of mini-vacations now and never retire! I take about 10 small vacations a year, usually with family and friends. And I can’t retire because I’m not working. Both my ministry and business is just so much fun.

Don’t Ever “Wait” Again!

A lot of people just wait.
When we’re 8, we wait to be 13.
When we’re 13, we wait to be 18.
When we’re in school, we wait to get a job.
When we’re single, we wait to get married.
When we’ve got babies, we wait for them to grow up quick.
When we’ve got teens, we wait for them to mature.
When we’re working, we wait for our retirement.
But if you really live in your “Now”, you’ll never wait again in your life. We enjoy where we are.
When someone is late and says to you, “So sorry to keep you waiting,” you should say, “I wasn’t waiting. I was enjoying life. I was breathing in God’s love. I was living and happy and blessed.”
Of course, if you say that, people will think you’re kookoo or had shabu for breakfast.
But that is essentially what living in your “Now” is. You don’t really wait. Because waiting means you’re attention is focused on your future.
Not you. You’re attention is focused on your “Now”.
And you’re grateful for that “Now”.
Example?
If you’re single, don’t “wait” for a husband. Enjoy your singleness now. Embrace your freedom. Breathe in the blessings of God. Embrace His peace. Love His presence.
If you’re still childless, don’t “wait” for a baby. Enjoy your marriage now. Embrace your life today. Be blissful where you are.
If you’re still financially hard-up, don’t “wait” for prosperity. Be grateful for the prosperity you have now. And because gratitude attracts what you’re grateful for, this will attract more prosperity.

Enjoy Your Imperfect Now

After my talk, a woman came up to me and said, “Bo, my husband passed away 3 months ago.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” I said.
“Can I ask a favor? Can you give this message to all the wives out there?”
She closed her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks.
I didn’t speak. I let her cry.
She went on. “My husband wasn’t perfect. But I’ll give anything to hold his hand again. I’ll give anything to sit beside him now. I’ll give anything to hear him laugh. I’ll give anything to serve him again. But I can’t. It’s impossible. So please Bo. Tell the wives to enjoy their imperfect husbands while they can. Because it won’t be forever.”
“I will tell them,” I said. I prayed for and gave her a hug.
To this day, I tell her story in my talks often.
Enjoy your imperfect “Now”—your spouse, your kids, your parents, your in-laws, your friends.

Rest In God

I love it when the Bible says, “But Jesus would go away to lonely places where he prayed.” (Luke 5:16).
I love it because if it’s good for Jesus, it must be good for me too. In fact, Jesus also invited his friends to do exactly the same thing. “There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat. So he said to them, “Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest for a while.” (Mark 6:31)
I have two last things to say to you.
First of all, you will never be alone.
Jesus says, “Let’s go off by ourselves…where we will be alone.” That means He’ll bring you there. He’ll meet you there. He’ll accompany you in your trials. He’ll never let you go.
Second, I believe that “alone” place doesn’t have to be a geographical place. That “alone” place is actually within you.
In the middle of noisy traffic, you can go to your heart.
Be quiet.
Be alone.
Be open.
And breathe in God’s love.

Enjoy your “Now”.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez

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