From Birth to Rebirth

On 26th November 1999, at 3:02 am, Monic gave birth to our daughter Megan, 28 days early, a precious gift, she has forever altered the rhythm of our lives.
Twenty-five years later, on 26th November 2024, at 3:30 am, Megan brought her own firstborn child, Oscar, into the world, 12 days late.
Reflecting on this extraordinary overlap of life’s moments, of shared birthdays, made me reflect yet again on God’s providence.

Gospel Parallels

With this profound connection I want to invite you to reflect on the miracle of physical birth and its parallel, the transformative gift of spiritual rebirth through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Birth itself is a remarkable miracle.
It is the culmination of waiting, preparing, and trusting in God’s perfect design.
Just last week, I wrote about Megan’s experience of waiting for Oscar’s arrival, likening it to the gospel principle of trusting in the Lord’s timing.
The Scriptures repeatedly remind us that God’s ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9) and that His plans unfold precisely as they should.
This shared birthday between Megan and Oscar is more than mere coincidence; it’s a divine reminder of the intricate weaving of our lives into God’s eternal tapestry, God-incidence.
As Megan transitions into motherhood, she enters a new season of selflessness, love, and spiritual growth.
For us as grandparents (Oma and Grandad), Oscar’s arrival highlights a legacy of faith, a continuation of priesthood promises, sealed through generations of time.
Holding this perfect little boy in our arms was simply beautiful and joyful!

Rebirth

The timing of Oscar’s birth also echoes the promise of rebirth offered through Jesus Christ.
While physical birth brings us into mortality, spiritual rebirth through covenant living and the grace of God prepares us for eternity.
Christ Himself taught, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
Just as Megan has given Oscar the gift of life, our Heavenly Father offers us the ultimate gift: the chance to be born again through Christ’s atonement, to become new creatures in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17).
These moments of birth, and the spiritual parallels they draw, urge us to prepare for the ultimate reunion with our Heavenly Father.
Reflecting on the miracle of birth, may we also renew our commitment to the miracle of rebirth.
For in Christ, we find the fulfilment of every promise, the redemption of every waiting season, and the joy of eternal life.
What moments in your life have shown you God’s timing and the hope of spiritual rebirth?

We Are Our Thoughts

Our thoughts are incredibly powerful.
They affect us in many ways – our mood, our behaviours and our outlook on life.
I’ve always loved the scripture in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…”
Recently I have been paying much more attention to the things I am thinking every day.
I consider whether my thoughts are positive, negative or even neutral.
…Apply the proverb to real life…
If my thoughts are filled with positivity, then so I will be.
…with negativity, then so I will be.
We literally become our thoughts.
We 𝒂𝒓𝒆 our thoughts.
In short – I am learning again that the quality of my thoughts has a direct impact on the quality of my life.
I love this quote by Dr. Wayne Dyer: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”
Subsequently, if you want to have a more meaningful and purposeful life, then begin to pay more attention to the things you think about every day.
Start by considering the things you tell yourself every day.
For example, are you struggling with someone?
A spouse, partner, a sibling, parents, a friend, or a workmate perhaps?
Pause for a moment and stop yourself.
Watch your thoughts…
Do you see what is happening in that moment?
What do you think about in your heart, when you think of them?
What do you notice?
Are your thoughts negative or positive?
If its negative, challenge yourself, and your thinking.
For me those challenges start early in the morning, when I make plans for the day ahead.
Start by engaging new positive thoughts and watch them start to grow day by day.
See how it feels.
I am relearning that when we change your thoughts, you can change your life, one thought at a time.
What would happen if you took just one thought today and intentionally shifted it from negative to positive?

Steady Effort

Since returning to Scotland in the summer, I’ve had a few projects on the go.
One of them, writing a daily devotional book has dominated a lot of my time…and I mean lots!
I’m especially grateful through for a number of returned missionaries who have helped in the due process, gathering content, editing and keeping me on track.
I’ve particularly enjoyed the regular check ins with our Project Manager – Emily Hodder, where we have talked about progress being made!
Thank you one and all!
I’ve learned that writing a book is no easy task, but hopefully in the end it will be worth it.

Do one small thing

Steady consistent effort is key, simply by doing one small thing.

By embracing the principle of “by the inch, it’s a cinch; by the yard, it’s hard,” the task became not only manageable but deeply fulfilling.
Tackling a daunting task all at once can feel overwhelming for all of us, but dividing it into smaller, achievable portions has made it much easier.
Each day, I committed to writing or editing a small portion.
Sometimes a paragraph, other times just refining a sentence.
These small but steady steps have brought me closer to my goal.
A few minutes of focused effort might seem insignificant in the moment, but over time, these moments compound into something quite remarkable.
As the days add up, so does my progress.
I’ve learned that writing a book becomes less about monumental bursts of creativity and more about cultivating a rhythm of perseverance.
I have also learned that first drafts are often messy!
Yet, a book grows word, by word and eventually they all add up!
Now we are in touching distance of having a final manuscript to submit to the publishers, hopefully by the end of this year.
This idea of breaking big goals into smaller steps—applies to more than just writing.
Whether you’re tackling a fitness goal, starting a new career, or organising your home, the power of steady effort is transformative.
My biggest lesson: Daily effort, no matter how small, can transform daunting challenges into achievable successes.
The journey to write this book has reminded me that success isn’t about grand gestures but daily perseverance.
What goal could you achieve if you simply took it one inch at a time?

The Blessing of Waiting…

When a mother is expecting her baby, the anticipation grows with each passing day.

For our daughter Megan, now overdue with her first child, the wait may feel endless.

Much like pregnancy, life itself is full of waiting periods that test our faith and refine our patience – a hot topic in our recent conversations!

The Lord’s Timing

Yet this period of waiting and preparing mirrors a gospel principle we are all called to live by: faith in the Lord’s timing.

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we learn that God’s blessings come according to His divine timetable, not ours.

In the scriptures, the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust.

The scriptures teach us: “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:36)

Pregnancy, like life itself, reminds us that much of our joy comes from learning to trust that the Lord knows when blessings should arrive.

Preparation

Just as Megan has prepared her home, her heart, and her body for this new baby, we, too, are asked to prepare spiritually while waiting for answers, blessings, and miracles.

In our home, we have a beautiful painting depicting the Saviour’s parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13).

Five were wise and made the most of their waiting time, ensuring they had enough oil for their lamps.

Similarly, waiting for a baby – just like waiting for any of God’s blessings – is a time to spiritually “gather oil.”

For Megan, the waiting has certainly allowed her to grow in patience and hope, enduring her final quiet and sometimes uncomfortable moments, before life changes forever.

For us in life, it’s about staying spiritually ready, trusting that the Lord’s promises will be fulfilled in His way and time.

The baby’s arrival—whether today, tomorrow, or in a few days—will happen at the exact moment God has lovingly planned.

The scriptures teach that God’s timing is always perfect: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Just as birth happens on God’s timeline, not ours, so do the blessings we seek in life.

And when they finally come, the waiting and preparing make the joy that much sweeter.

In this life, we are all “waiting” for the ultimate promise: to return to our Heavenly Father and be reunited with our eternal family.

When Megan holds the baby in her arms for the first time, I’m sure the waiting will be but a memory, a beautiful reminder of the blessing of trusting in the Lord’s perfect plan.

What blessings have you discovered during your own seasons of waiting?

Looking Back

“You’re looking well Dave” I said.
“And you too Daryl” he replied.
And so began our lovely lunch with one another, earlier this week in Stirling.
Dave and I were colleagues many years ago, collaborating on numerous large-scale, challenging projects during our time working together.
Lunch was delicious.
We got caught up on our family situations.
And we talked about what we were doing now.
But what we really enjoyed was taking time to reflect upon our many experiences we’d share together, twenty plus years ago.
Looking back allowed us to revisit past experiences with the clarity of hindsight.

New Insights

As we shared our thoughts and feelings, we found they often revealed insights that we’d missed in the moment, from many years ago.
Indeed, we found looking back useful, because it gave us both a new perspective.
Revisiting those moments with Dave added another layer of richness, as his perspective shed light on details I’d never considered.
Part of enjoying life lies in celebrating our accomplishments and milestones, and there were certainly plenty of those during the time Dave and I worked side by side.
Whilst reflecting on some of those daunting challenges we faced together, our shared response was, “I’d never thought about it quite like that before.”
Looking back isn’t just about nostalgia—it’s an opportunity for growth.
We both recognised how far we’d come and understood a little better how the many challenges we’d faced together had shaped us, and to some extent, influenced our future decisions.
There is something very powerful about reflecting on the past together.
We both realised how much we’d influenced each other; in ways we’d never considered.
Looking back certainly helped us to understand how our past experiences had shaped us, but somehow it also helped us to look ahead to the future with renewed confidence.
It was a real joy to strengthen our bonds of friendship, celebrate our successes and gain a deeper empathy for and understanding of each other – after far, far too long!
Thanks Dave – and I’ll pay next time!
When you look back on where you’ve been, how does it shape the way you see your path ahead?

The Laboratory of Life

Life is a laboratory, much like the scientific lab where our son Kyle works tirelessly to test and refine ideas.
As a PhD student in Chemistry, Kyle’s experiments often lead to setbacks, frustrations, and occasional breakthroughs.
He invests countless hours in refining, testing and validating something over long periods of time, transforming theories into realities.
Sometimes he fails, things don’t go quite as expected and yet every small action he takes, contributes to the bigger picture.
Yet, through his experiments with different strategies, learning from those experiences, continuously pushing forward that ultimately leads to success and sometimes unexpected results.
His insights and knowledge grow through his struggles.

Life Lessons

Like Kyle’s research, life provides opportunities to learn from successes and failures, just as those experiments do for him in his laboratory.
Similarly, life’s challenges and experiences test our character, faith, and resilience, shaping us into who we are meant to become.
Our everyday experiences and situations act like a science lab, where we learn, experiment, and observe how to navigate different challenges and situations.
Like Kyle’s experiments, each of us are in a way, proven in the laboratory of our own life.
Sometimes in life, things don’t go quite as we had hoped or planned.
We experiment with our human experience, and through our struggles, our efforts and hard work, truths are established.
I believe that the purpose of all of our life experiences, or those testing experiments we sometimes endure, help us to grow and become more like our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Personal trials, family difficulties, financial struggles, and health crises, each push our faith to new limits.
By facing each trial, we learn more about ourselves, and more about the gospel principles that can carry us through each test.
In my own laboratory of time, my testimony has been shaped not by one grand moment, but by a thousand small experiments, to trust in God.
“..awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith,… even if ye can no more than desire to believe.” – Alma 32:27
Just like Kyle’s scientific procedures that establish truths, a spiritual experiment produces, conviction, knowledge, light and eternal truths.
Begin your spiritual experiment today.
Act on even the smallest desire to follow Christ, and watch as your faith grows into conviction.

New Beginnings

Life is filled with many twists and turns.
“When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell
At some point in our lives, I believe we will all experience the metaphorical closing of doors, don’t we?
Walking through one door, often closes another.

Closing

Yet, for me, it is a constant reminder that each ending leads to a new beginning, full of endless possibilities.
Returning from Belgium and the Netherlands in the summer has meant that I have experienced a few months of doors opening and closing.
I have started to think what would have never happened if that door hadn’t closed?
“Doors close regularly in our lives, and some of those closings cause genuine pain and heartache.” – Howard W. Hunter
Closed doors can and do provide valuable lessons and insights.
They test our resilience and perseverance, causing us to reflect and reconsider our goals and aspirations.

Opening

Each time a door closes (occasionally they are slammed shut) I need to remind myself that the rest of the world opens up.
And yet, gazing back and dwelling too long on the past, can mean we lose sight of those opportunities opening up ahead.
Sometimes in that moment it can be difficult to see and believe.
Hope can fade.
I have learned again that we need to stop beating on the door that just closed, put it behind us, and look forward to the largeness of life that lies ahead for us.
This is certainly true for me.
I have learned again about waiting and to be patient.
Now with a few doors slightly ajar, I have also learned that when opportunity comes knocking, I need to be ready to answer the door.
Now it’s time to rise once more and walk through the new doors of opportunity that inevitably come along.
Don’t be afraid of opening and closing doors.
Don’t fear them.
Learn from them.
Choose to set out on our life journeys with optimism and be ready to welcome every door that opens along the way.
What can prevent you from seeing a new open door?

Games We Played

Growing up in the 1960’s, I played lots of games outside with my friends.
Who else remembers some of my favourites?
Kick the Can, Kerbie, British Bulldog, Skipping Rope Games, Conkers, Marbles, Hopscotch, Hide and Seek, Rounders, Statues, Jacks, Cowboys and Indians, and endless games of football – played everywhere, as there were fewer cars around.
All of these games brought us together outdoors.
Favourite toys included Action Man, Meccano, Lego, train sets, Airfix kits, Etch-a-sketch, Yo-yo’s and by the late 60’s, skateboards and space hoppers!
There wasn’t ever time to be bored, and best of all, there were no health and safety rules!

The value of outdoor play

Playing outside was both fun and a little dangerous too!
Our social skills developed as we actually made friendships, built relationships and talked with others face to face.
Our personal resilience increased as we fell off swings, got a bruised knee, cut a finger or whatever, getting roughed up a little seemed to part of growing up.
And we learned a lot about working together in teams, having lots of fun and learning to lead.
In short – we played together – outside in the fresh air!
As children, it was a time when we were all free of the trappings of today’s digital age of online games, the latest consoles, tablets, movies on demand and smart phones that have all moved childhood indoors.

My recollection is we were much more in tune with each other, by just having play time together, outside on the streets or in the playpark.

And today?

Regrettably, the innocence and freedom of those childhood years, seems to have gone forever.

Sadly, this world of independent children’s play has today largely vanished.
For years now, Monic and I take a walk every day and we have noticed something.
Rarely, do we ever see children playing outside, or for that matter anyone outside.
This lost world of children’s play is now evidenced by physical and psychological consequences, where obesity and mental health issues are rife in our rising generation.
Growing research by Jonathan Haidt and others indicates that Play time has been replaced by Phone time.
You may have seen an active campaign recently in the UK to have a “Smartphone Free Childhood” encouraging parents to delay giving their children smartphones until at least age 14 and growing demands for them to be completely banned in schools altogether.
Perhaps its time to revisit some of these great outdoors games with the grandkids?!
What was your favourite street game when you were growing up?

 

Remembrance

The world I live in, is not what I want it to be.
I’d love to live in a world filled with 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆.
The kind of peace that allows for stability, growth, and unity among people of all nations.
We are after all, brothers and sisters, children of God.
In a peaceful world, we’d be able to resolve our differences through diplomacy and dialogue, by valuing our diverse cultures and develop deeper mutual understanding.
Peace creates a place where individuals and communities can thrive, free from the fear and trauma of any conflict.
Such a world of peace will encourage compassion, where nations prioritise humanity over dominance, power and greed.

War

War, on the other hand, creates massive divisions, devastates economies, and leaves long lasting scars on generations, trapping people in cycles of poverty and displacement as we witness now.
War’s effects are not only confined to battlefields; they impact families, disrupt education, and lead to significant challenges for all of us.
All this violence creates instability – societies struggle to work together and address the many global issues we see now, including climate change, poverty, and injustice.
Sadly, we continue to live on a planet filled with the ravages of war.
“Imperfect people share planet earth with other imperfect people.” – Russell M. Nelson.

Peace

Yet, I know that peace can come to all who earnestly seek the Prince of Peace, and turn to Him, even Jesus Christ.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” – John 14:27
Here in the UK, Remembrance Sunday is a special time of reflection, respect, and gratitude, that brings a renewed commitment to peace and understanding.
Like many millions today, I will take some time to pause and reflect to honour the bravery and sacrifices of those who served and lost their lives in wars and conflicts.
I hope, by reflecting on the past, it will inspire us to work toward a future free of conflict, by trying to understand one another better.
The poppy I choose to wear is a powerful symbol, representing the millions of lives lost and reminds us of the hardships faced by soldiers and their families.
Lest we forget, I simply want to pay my respects to the fallen.
To those who gave of their lives – that we may have our freedom today.
In 1916, John Maxwell Edmunds said, “When you go Home, tell them of us and say, For your Tomorrow, we gave our Today”.
For those who gave everything, we will always remember them.

Morning Routines

“Nothing much happened today….”
Those were the opening words of my first diary entry on January 1st, 1978.
Since then, I have written thousands more.
In a few weeks’ time, it’ll be 47 years since it all began.
And my daily morning entries have filled 49 page a day journals (a couple of years 1983 – 1985 I filled a few.)
I am grateful for my mother.
Since Christmas day 1977, with her gift of the little diary, every December 25th since, she has presented me with a new journal for the year ahead.
Filled with priceless memories, stories, insightful experiences, a few travelogues and a number of boring entries too 😉, they have become a record of my life.
They are a way to remember.

Mornings

I believe that how you start your morning sets the tone for the rest of your day.
In 1977, I began my years at High School in Dunfermline.
That summer, I started an early morning newspaper round.
Those early rises allowed me to establish regular morning habits that developed into consistent, reliable daily patterns from a young age.
I discovered that if you start every day with intention, a disciplined mindset is the result.
It has been the foundation for steady growth in my personal learning, development, family and professional life.
A structured morning routine helps you to focus on any priority tasks for the day ahead, without feeling hurried and to plan your time and resources accordingly.
Finding a morning routine that suits you, may take a little time.
The important thing is to commit to a routine that supports your own goals and lifestyle.
For me jotting down my thoughts of the activities of the day before in my journal is a powerful way to slow me down and clear my mind.

Top Tips

– Set a regular, consistent wake up time.
– Hydrate immediately and drink a glass of water.
– Journal – Start small – my first journal entry was just 12 words.
– Meditate & Study
– Prioritise your day.
As opposed to those first few words of my journal of 1978, something of real value happened that day, which has set the daily routines of my lifetime.
What did you do this morning?

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