From Dark to Light

Are you fumbling around in the darkness?
The storms of life, dark, difficult moments, trials, tribulations, sickness, loneliness, resentment, fears can overwhelm us and we may fall into despair.
Arising early this morning, it was dark, very dark.
Autumn is here.
The thick early morning darkness of the season is upon us.
Carefully in the darkness, I cautiously moved forward into the vast darkness of the bedroom. As I placed one foot in front of the other, I became acutely aware of my tiny steps, wary of any obstacles in the way.
Moving forward apprehensively, I slowly, gingerly stretched out my arms, feeling, touching, sensing in the denseness of that dark moment, in which direction to move onward, towards my objective.
My pace was deliberate and measured.
After a few seconds, my goal was achieved.
Clutching my dressing gown and slippers, I turned around and once more faced another dark period of retracing some of my steps and out of the bedroom, into the hallway, down a flight of stairs and finally arriving in the living room.

Turn the Light On

I then chose to turn the darkness off, by turning the light on.
Figuratively, many of us may be in a similar space, right now, right at this moment in time.
Searching, seeking, inquiring, exploring for a new direction and answers, yet feel surrounded by gloomy darkness, filling our thoughts and actions.
This is a time for faith, not for fear.
Throughout life, I have learned that when the night is dark, when thick gloominess surrounds us, each of us have an opportunity to move forward by exercising our faith in Jesus Christ.
He is the light.
He is the light of the world.
Little by little, step by step by putting our hand in the Lordโ€™s hand and relying upon Him, will help each of us through, even the darkest of nights.
Doing so will strengthen our faith and answers will come.
Choose to turn the darkness off.
Please choose to turn His light on.

Culture

“What is that for?” she asked.
“Its an egg cup.” I replied.
Then she responded “How do you use it?”
Picking up a boiled egg, I then demonstrated how an egg cup works!
Using a knife I showed our guests how to cut the egg open and eat it using a teaspoon.
“Fascinating” I thought.
Sitting around the breakfast table that morning, we were informed that it wasn’t a common thing in the USA to use egg cups. Yet for generations in Europe – egg cups have been quite a thing!
It was a wake up call for all of us.
๐‚๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž – traditions, societal norms, languages, what we wear, how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, unwritten rules that govern our social behaviours, foods, ceremonies, pastimes, architecture or simply put – they way we do things around here – is part n parcel of our everyday experience at the moment.
In our interconnected world, our cultures are fluid and in continual motion.
While change is inevitable, this little egg cup experience reminded me that no matter what culture a people are a part of, one thing is for certain, we constantly make random discoveries of cultural norms all the time!
I am writing this from a hotel room in Copenhagen this morning. Walking around the city yesterday, Monic and I came across a cultural icon of this nation – Hans Christian Andersen! He too has influenced the culture of this society for generations!
From a little egg cup, to a prolific writer, what cultures have impacted your life?

How do I become a better leader?

Recently I was asked, “How can I be a better leader?”
My thoughts returned to a childhood memory…
As a child I remember having a kaleidoscope. With each simple turn of the kaleidoscope a new beautiful pattern appeared. Hence the name for a group of butterflies, as they flutter around together – a kaleidoscope!
Kaleidoscopes constantly generate changing symmetrical patterns from small pieces of coloured glass.
In a similar way a kaleidoscope can symbolise anything that changes continually. Consider leadership!
“Trying to describe leadership is like having several viewers trying to compare what they see in a kaleidoscope when the mere act of passing the kaleidoscope shakes up its design.” Neal A. Maxwell.
Growing older, I am beginning to see that life can be like a kaleidoscope. We can get shaken up from time to time. By pausing, slowing down, reflecting and looking inside our kaleidoscope of life and holding it to the light – beautiful new patterns emerge.
Sometimes however, we play the busy card and don’t stop long enough to see the beauty appear.
So it is with the kaleidoscope of leadership. Endless patterns, endless models, endless ideas, endless determining factors constantly shifting and shaping our leadership styles.
What matters most are the constant principles that create the most respected leaders – namely; ๐’๐’๐’—๐’†, ๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’๐’†๐’”๐’”, ๐’‘๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’†๐’๐’„๐’†, ๐’Ž๐’†๐’†๐’Œ๐’๐’†๐’”๐’”, ๐’‰๐’–๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’š, ๐’‰๐’๐’๐’†๐’”๐’•๐’š, ๐’‡๐’๐’“๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’—๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ, ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’Š๐’•๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’•, ๐’“๐’†๐’”๐’‘๐’†๐’„๐’•, ๐’”๐’†๐’๐’‡๐’๐’†๐’”๐’”๐’๐’†๐’”๐’” ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’๐’ƒ๐’†๐’…๐’Š๐’†๐’๐’„๐’†.
So you want to become a better leader?
Then I suggest you focus on each of these character traits. In turn each will produce a kaleidoscope of beauty, no one can eclipse.

Agile Thinking!

“It’s okay” I said, “I’ll pop down to the car for it….”
Let me explain.
Recently whilst staying overnight in a hotel in Belgium, annoyingly, one of the elasticated ear straps broke free from my face mask. Walking to dinner later proved a little bothersome, with one strap fixed behind my right ear and the other side of my mask being propped into position with my left hand for a good wee while…
After dinner, it was time to resolve the matter!
We were sure that we had another face mask in the car. At that point I suggested that I’d go back to the car and look for it. Monic proceeded to give me some idea where it may be.

Then we hit another problem.

We had only been given one hotel entry card for the room and it was inserted into the light system to keep the power on. Removing the card would mean Monic would be in the dark for a few minutes whilst I walked back to the car to hunt for another face mask.
“Hmm, now what I thought?”
Hunting for a solution, I had a flash of inspiration…. “Aha” I thought, and duly inserted my name tag into the switch.
The lights remained on!
These first 3 months in the mission field have been filled with such moments – regularly!
This little experience, captures in a nutshell our initial period of service.
– A little challenge arises
– We consider solutions
– Something else usually happens to make things even more irksome and challenging
– Then somehow, from somewhere – we adapt, flex our thinking and with cheetah like agility we are able to move forward as the issue unravels itself with a little gentle coaxing.
Daily, each of us may face little challenges, irritations, problems that given time, can become even more difficult to resolve.
What do you need to do to adopt a more agile way of thinking?

Simple Symbols & Formulas

Pondering after general conference weekend, it struck me this morning of a very obvious and intentional way that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is taught around the world.
There is in fact a very simple formula, a pattern if you will.
In the Book of Mormon, Jacob 6:3, we read “I speak unto you ๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’‚๐’Š๐’ (just like our conference weekends every 6 months), for I am desirous for the welfare of your souls. Yea, mine anxiety is great for you; and ye yourselves know that it ever has been. For (1) ๐‘ฐ ๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’† ๐’†๐’™๐’‰๐’๐’“๐’•๐’†๐’… ๐’š๐’๐’– with all diligence; and (2) ๐‘ฐ ๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’† ๐’•๐’‚๐’–๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’…๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐’Ž๐’š ๐’‡๐’‚๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“; and (3) ๐‘ฐ ๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’† ๐’”๐’‘๐’๐’Œ๐’†๐’ ๐’–๐’๐’•๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’„๐’๐’๐’„๐’†๐’“๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’˜๐’‰๐’Š๐’„๐’‰ ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’˜๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’•๐’†๐’, from the creation of the world”
Reflecting upon this scripture, (and others) what I witnessed over the weekend (again), has suggested strongly to my mind that there is an oft repeated simple pattern or formula that is used to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed it has been similarly replicated through all generations of time.

It is this….

1 – Personal Testimony
2 – Teachings of Living Prophets
3 – Teachings of Holy Scriptures
I hope that we can hearken to this simple pattern. It is a proven, powerful and potent way of teaching.
As we were reminded of again over the weekend it has been said that; “The Gospel of Jesus Christ is beautifully simple and simply beautiful.”
Formulas and symbols help us to see things ๐’„๐’๐’“๐’“๐’†๐’„๐’•๐’๐’š!
Look out for the pattern when the missionaries stop by to share the gospel and their testimony with you!
What other patterns have you found in the scriptures?

Oops!

Now that was a little embarrassing! ๐Ÿ˜…
Yesterday, Monic and I visited 4 different missionary apartments in Lelystad, Amsterdam (x2) and Haarlem. Over the last few weeks, we have visited nearly all of the apartments in the mission and only have a handful to go. It has given us a really good understanding of the state of repair of each of them, the good, the bad and the downright ugly!
Feeling tired, after a long day, and loaded down as usual, carrying bags of linen, bedding, pillows and our cleaning materials, we took the lift up to the last empty apartment of the day.
With the bunch of keys in hand for that specific apartment, (there were 8 different keys) I tried each of them, one by one. 1st – nope, 2nd – nope, 3rd – nope… You get the idea, until I reached the last one. None of them worked! Grrr….
Start again I thought. 1st – nope, 2nd – nope, 3rd – nope… and then I said to Monic, “do you hear that?”…”There is someone inside!” “Ring the doorbell” she said. We did so and a few moments later, a lovely old couple came to the door. We looked at them quizzically, thinking to ourselves “what are you doing here?”
A quick check of the address and to our embarrassment – we were at the wrong door! Oops! We were supposed to be at apartment 371 and had been trying the keys in door 317!!
Graciously the old couple gave us the directions to 371. We made our apologies, smiled and laughed a little and were then on our way.
With a glint in our eye, we looked at one another, chuckled together and a few minutes later found ourselves at 371!
Have you ever made a silly little mistake when you were tired?

Change one Thing

Change One Thing….
Have you ever asked yourself what’s the one thing that I can change about myself that will make the biggest difference in my life?
Change happens one (baby) step at a time.
In a number of recent conversations, I have found that we tend to focus on far too many changes at once.
Then it struck me this morning that we must remember, that new habits are formed one step at a time……One By One.
By changing one thing in your daily habits and routines, no matter how great or small, I have found that just one little thing can have many big consequences in your life.
Perhaps its that one annoying habit that consumes lots of your time every day, that is really just a waste of time and effort!
You know what I mean.
So – why not do something today that will make a big difference?
Choose to change.
It may help you to soar higher.
What one thing will you change today?

Asking Questions

“What questions do you have for me?”
I asked that question several times yesterday in numerous interview sessions, phrasing it in such a way that I expect to receive some questions. And on nearly every occasion I did.
Have you asked any good questions lately?
Questions can be extremely powerful. They help us to think, feel, see and do things differently.
We all need to learn how to ask great questions….
Some professionals like doctors, lawyers and journalists are taught how to ask great questions as part of their training.
In my own professional career through sales, leadership and coaching, and now as a Mission Leader, I have found it equally important to be able to formulate and ask the right questions.
Questions aid performance, develop relationships, help provide inspiration and direction, they even help to build trust and rapport.
“Management teams aren’t good at asking questions. In business school, we train them to be good at giving answers.” – Clayton Christensen.
Itโ€™s time to be a little more curious. Asking questions is an important part of life and learning.
I am constantly asking questions to help others move forward.
“What do you want?”
“What do you need most right now?”
“So what?”
“Why now?”
“How can you be truer to yourself?”
“Can you tell me more?”
What question can you use today to unlock your potential and help you or others to move forward?

Shopping

Yesterday, in preparation for our busy week ahead, we went shopping to Makro.
It wasn’t long before our shopping trolley was full.
Even after 27 years of marriage, it still fascinates me how my brain works different from Monic’s brain. What I think we need (and want) is oftentimes very different what Monic thinks we need (and want!).
Thankfully, with a wry smile and a wee wink in my eye, the chocolates made it into the trolley once again…! ๐Ÿ˜‰
Can anyone else relate to this regular experience?
All comments gratefully received below!

Signs of Progress

How do you measure progress?
After 9 weeks of immersion in the culture of Belgium and the Netherlands, something significant, yet very subtle happened in my head this week.
For several weeks, I hear the Dutch language and then translate what I hear into English.
In order to respond, I then translate my English thinking into Dutch.
This week though, things started to change – just a little.
I am beginning to think in Dutch… ๐Ÿ™‚
What a difference it makes!
The result?
I am even struggling to recall some simple English words and replacing them with Dutch ones!
The transition is starting to happen!
Don’t get me wrong, I have still lots of learning, but genuinely feel after some tough weeks, that I am making some progress.
So how do you measure progress?
…One day at a time! And then recognising the change.
When I’m dreaming in Dutch – that will be a real sign!
And for our new missionary arrivals next week, remember to speak it every day – that is so crucial. There is hope!!
ยฉ Copyright 2024 Daryl Watson. All Rights Reserved. Registered in Scotland, Company Number SC473068