Marathons and Missions – the same, but different

๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐š ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐š๐ฉ๐ก๐จ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž: itโ€™s long, thereโ€™s often discomfort, it requires perseverance, your mindset makes all the difference and the rewards for endurance are simply wonderful!
Mission life requires a lot of self-discipline as you constantly work towards future goals.
I am learning that a huge part of taking part in any marathon, just like mission life, is all about looking after your wellbeing – physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally โ€“ all of which effect your ability to succeed in the mission.
I have also learned that the best marathon runners have a structured daily plan and routine. Sticking to the structure provides a roadmap through the months of service and allows for more balance to focus on whatโ€™s truly important and matters most of all.
I have learned too that pushing too hard can impact your immune system and leave you a little weakened and shaken. Maintaining a balance is critical.
In marathons, and in life, sometimes you make great progress, and sometimes your progress is slowed to a crawl, setbacks are inevitable.
Running a marathon takes a long time, and yet time in the mission field flyโ€™s by incredibly fast.
Participating in a marathon is exhausting โ€“ enough said!
One of my biggest lessons thus far – Small steps work more effectively over the long run.
7 months ago, I wrote a short article that mission life is a marathon, not a sprint. Now I know that for a fact, but I love every minute of it! ๐Ÿ™‚

Courage

Courage is the great need of our time.

Courage requires consequence.

If there is no cost, no risk or consequence, then courage is easy – and empty. In fact, as consequence rises, so does the amount of courage needed to take a stand.

The wordย courageย is defined as โ€œmental or moral strength to โ€ฆย persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.โ€

I believe it is in our very nature to admire those who stand against the odds and withstand danger – many great leaders come readily to mind. One who is currently rising on the world stage received a standing applause in the House of Commons this week.

However, simply stated, courage is meaningless without consequence.

Consequence

โ€œCourage is the form of every virtue at the testing point. Pilate was merciful until it became risky.โ€ CS Lewis.

Courage to accept the inescapable truth that greatness can never be achieved without adversity, a struggle that is prerequisite for growth.

Edmund Burke shared this.. “Adversity is a severe instructor, set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves, as He loves us better, too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This conflict with difficulty makes us acquainted with our object and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer us to be superficial.”

A measure of our success in life will be determined by our response to adversity and the courage that you have as you wrestle with the problems, that will strengthen your nerves and sharpen your skill, just as Burke said.

Indeed, courage is the power to let go of the familiar and face up to the unknown.

We are faced every day with situations that require courage and strength.

What courageous actions will you take today?

Remember to say please.

Remember to say ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž..

Not too long ago, I was reminded of some behaviours that we ought to avoid, namely, criticising, mocking or ignoring others, in other words incivility – it isnโ€™t very pleasant.

Incivility- โ€œrude or unsociable speech or behaviour.โ€

Its opposite is civility โ€“ โ€œformal politeness and courtesy in behaviour or speech.โ€

Georgetown University professor Christine Porath, found that people who are civil are viewed as better leaders.

โ€œCivility lifts people up,โ€ she says. โ€œWe will get people to give more and function at their best if weโ€™re civil. Incivility hijacks performance. It robs people of their potential. … When we have more civil environments, we are more productive, creative, helpful, happy and healthy. We can do better. Each one of us can lift others up.โ€

Far more important, are the things we do instead….

Do you use the word please?

When did you last compliment someone on a job well done?

Do you listen and seek to understand another personโ€™s views?

How often do you give others the benefit of the doubt?

Do our words, our actions, and even the expression on our face communicate to people around us that we value and respect them?

Think what could happen in our homes, offices, classrooms, and numerous other places if we just treated others with more civility, kindness, politeness and respect.

Think what could happen to our relationships, to our health and well-being.

Yes, life is stressful and often uncivil, but we can change that – little by little – as we choose to embrace civility and simply say please.

Feet that bring peace!

As our missionaries walked into the mission home for Mission Leadership Council on Friday, one by one, they took off their shoes.
Immediately my mind raced to some scriptures in the Old & New Testament along with the Book of Mormon.
Isaiah 52:7 โ€œHow beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!โ€
Romans 10:15 โ€œAnd how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!โ€
Mosiah 15:17 โ€œAnd again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who shall hereafter publish peace, yea, from this time henceforth and forever!โ€

Therefore what?

Elder Carlos E. Asay said โ€œNo one is more beautiful or more blessed than those who serve God by preaching and exemplifying the truth. It is the most sanctifying and beautifying labour of allโ€ฆ. The feet, the voices, the faces, and the whole being of those preachers who share saving truths will always be precious and beautifulโ€ฆ. In the eyes of those who have learned of Christ and of his power to save, there are few if any blemishes in the missionaries who walked long distances to bring the gospel message.โ€
Through all of their hard work and efforts, there may have been a few threadbare socks on show, nevertheless I know they will continue to publish peace as they move their feet onwards, forwards and upwards in their daily missionary efforts.
No matter the opposition or the terrain, oโ€™er mountain or plain or sea, missionaries will share their testimonies and joy of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ โ€“ always and forever.
And no matter the season, through rain, wind, sun or snow, missionaries will publish glad tidings of peace every day, lifting, teaching, inspiring and bringing people to a knowledge of the truth.
I am so grateful for each and every one of them, for their tireless determination to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and preach His gospel of peace.
Do you want to have His peace in your life too?

Growth Rings

Every human being is also a human ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ.
A careful study of the growth rings of a tree, always tell an interesting story.
Look carefully, it requires some close inspection.
Discovering whether any particular year provided a favourable or unfavourable period of growth, is easy to identify.
Some years, there is quite a bit of new wood added.
In other years when growth was unfavourable, only a small fraction of that amount was added.
Similarly – stop for a moment, reflect back and consider how your own life, is like the history of a tree.
There may have been years of great spurts of new growth where favourable conditions allowed you to flourish and develop.
In other years, unfavourable conditions, and experiences, may have reduced the amount of development and growth.
Wouldnโ€™t it be fascinating if we could see our personal growth records as we are making them in our own lives, just like trees do?!
If we could see that record, perhaps weโ€™d be much more motivated in our daily choices and decision making to make our growing conditions more favourable year on year, thus producing a fair amount of new wood.
I may be prone to say, โ€œYep, 1983 I was at my bestโ€ or โ€œ1992 was a challenging year.โ€
How can we keep our lives under better control?
For me, keeping a regular journal, maintaining regular study habits & routines, plus setting stretching goals, really helps to maintain a growth trajectory.
As a human ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ, what do your yearly growth rings look like?

Lessons that change us

๐‹๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฌ – Brad Wilcox
This is a cracking photo of two young missionaries, returning home exhausted, after another long hard day. This was outside our Stowe Road apartment in Shepherd’s Bush, London โ€“ in January 1984. Iโ€™d been out only a few weeks in the England London Mission.
I had the best trainer ever in Kelley Gray
Times never to be forgotten.
Those were the days!!
Every day those lessons in the mission field challenged me.
More significantly, they changed me.
Now, as Monic and I lead the Belgium Netherlands Mission, frequently I see great power and wisdom in the phrase “๐’๐’†๐’”๐’”๐’๐’๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’…๐’๐’โ€™๐’• ๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’๐’†๐’๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’–๐’” ๐’“๐’‚๐’“๐’†๐’๐’š ๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’–๐’”.”
For all who have served or are currently serving, I am absolutely certain each of you will know exactly what I mean.
That said, these lessons don’t only take place in the mission field.
What lessons have challenged and changed you?

Deep Roots

Storms blew across Europe on Friday.
Whilst walking through our neighbourhood yesterday, there was plenty evidence of fallen trees.
We passed a few trees that had been uprooted. Their roots seemed quite shallow, without much depth.
For a moment, I wondered if they would have survived the wind and storm, if their roots had been deeper.
Similarly, each of us will face the winds and storms of adversity in our own lives.
As the wind blows, are you prepared to withstand the buffetings that follow?
Seedlings fall to the ground, and dependent upon a number of factors, some may flourish and grow into mighty trees.
Opposition, challenge, and difficulty are part of growth. It takes time, effort, perseverance, set-backs will be inevitable and adaptation certain.

Roots

โ€œBut unlike trees, we can choose to deliberately develop the spiritual root structure for our lives. We decide where to set our roots down and how deeply to sink them into the soil. Daily decisions make tiny, almost imperceptible differences in the roots of our faith, the effect of which becomes foundational.โ€ โ€“ says L. Whitney Clayton.
In the Book of Mormon, Alma likened the word of God to a seed and spoke of the need to nourish the seed’s growth into a tree:
“And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.
“But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.” (Alma 32:37-38.)
It is my personal witness, that as we weather the storms of life, we will be strengthened by learning of Jesus Christ.
As we deeply root ourselves in the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ and exercise our faith in Him, He will fortify us against any buffetings from winds and storms that will come.

Unity

โ€œLeadership is influence – nothing more, nothing lessโ€โ€“ John Maxwell.
Yesterday, I used this quote in a pre-conference short leadership team meeting.
Influence – โ€œthe power to have an effect on people or things, or a person or thing that is able to do this.โ€
Then we started our mission conference.
We shared articles, beliefs, doctrines, ideas, music, principles, quotes, scriptures, standards, stories, and many truths were told.
Then, we laughed together, we cried together, we spoke in English and in Dutch together, we prayed together, we bore testimony together.
We influenced one another.
We were united, we were ๐’๐’๐’†.
In my own mindโ€™s eye, all day long I had another definition of leadership running through my head.
“Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.” Stephen Covey
Yes โ€“ we even inspired one other.
Serving as mission leaders is one of the most arduous, challenging, rewarding, and uplifting (all at the same time) things that we have ever, ever done.
But it is truly majestic to see, hear and witness the development of the rising generation.

Are you sleepwalking through life?

Are you sleepwalking through life?
I remember years ago, when one of our daughters came into the living room late one evening, it was clear that she was sleepwalking, and had little control over her actions. We guided her safely back to her bed and tucked her in. Although funny at the time, sleepwalking can have serious consequences.
Sleepwalking โ€“ โ€œthe act or state of walking, eating, or performing other motor acts while asleep, of which one is unaware upon awakening.โ€
Are you a little bit sleepy?
If you are truly unaware of who you are, or asleep to what you truly want, or have little purpose or direction in your daily routines, then respectively, may I suggest that you may be sleepwalking through your life.
– Are you fed up with the same daily routines, like being on autopilot?
– Or perhaps feeling constantly overwhelmed?
– You may have regular negative feelings about yourself?
– Your emotional state may have regular extreme swings from happy to sad.
– Do you have a lot of conflict or drama in your life?
In my life, I have found that oftentimes the best answers come when I start to slow down and wake myself up. A guide on the side, someone who can help you along your way, can really help.
Just like we helped our daughter safely back to bed, a coach can help you too.
Sleeping is a natural state, but eventually, awakening is a natural process. Sooner or later, anything that sleeps will awaken.
The Apostle Paul writing in the New Testament book of Ephesians 5:14 states; โ€œWherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.โ€
I believe that Christ has given me light in my life.
It is time to awaken from what is asleep in your own life?
It is easy to fall back asleep.
However, the real winners in life, are the ones who evaluate their situation, awake from their sleepwalking and deep slumber, make a decision, then act and are not acted upon.
What ways have you found to awaken yourself to what matters most in life?

Learning Patience

Almost daily, I pass this traffic light as I set forth on any journey out of Leidschendam.
More often than not (it seems to me) it is red, just like you see above.
Recently, I had an experience, that Iโ€™m sure many may be able to relate too.
For those of you who know me well, I have a propensity to be prompt!
Early one morning last week, as we were setting off just a little late for interviews in Rotterdam, we got halfway towards this light and then realised that weโ€™d forgotten something in the house. A quick turnaround, and then we were back on our way.
To get to the motorway, there are four sets of traffic lights that we encounter.
The first one above, is a bit of a bottleneck, as it leads to a narrow bridge where only one vehicle can cross at a time, hence the set of traffic lights at either side. That morning, it was at red. After a few minutes of patiently waiting, we crossed the bridge
100 metres further, is traffic light number 2, at a T-Junction. Again, it was at red. We waited once again for a couple of minutes before it turned green.
Turning right, we travelled another 200 metres and approached traffic light number 3. What a surprise, yepโ€ฆred again. It was another minute or two before it turned green.
Turning left, I approached the final set of traffic lights at a major intersection with lights galore. My light was of course red โ€“ it had to be! By this time, Iโ€™m feverishly watching the lights to see when it is going to be our turn to move. 2 minutes felt like forever.
Four red in a rowโ€ฆ. โ˜น
One interesting fact, that morning, we were the first car (in a line of cars) at every light, meaning that on every occasion we approached the traffic lights that morning, they had just turned red!

The lesson! ๐Ÿ˜Š

I think I have finally (I hope) learned that it is not the traffic โ€“ it is me!
Over the years I understand that it is not what happens in your day that makes you mad, itโ€™s who you are and how you handle what happens in your day that makes the difference.
Patience means actively waiting and enduring trials well.
Delays help me with one great lesson – ๐๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž!
The Apostle Paul gave the purpose of patience in his epistle to the Saints in Rome, in Romans 5:3-4 we read; โ€œWe glory in tribulations โ€ฆ knowing that tribulation worketh patience. And patience, experience; and experience, hope.โ€
I believe that being patient is a divine attribute and for many of us it may take many years to develop fully.
We should learn to be patient with ourselves.
In what area of your life do you struggle to be patient?