Tag Archive for: Time

Generations Connected

Yesterday held many important moments – business in Edinburgh, and a meaningful meeting in the Scottish Parliament on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
But the real highlight was something quieter, more personal: I had the chance to connect with Victoria, the daughter of one of my missionary companions from 40 years ago in London, Dana McBride, whilst she was on a very short trip to Edinburgh with her husband – and I just happened to be in town at the same time!
Time slipped away as we talked.
Though our meeting was brief, it held the weight of decades.
The last time I saw Dana was in 2016 in Phoenix, but yesterday – in a lovely twist – we bridged continents and years with a short video call to Dana and his wife Sheri.
For a few minutes, it felt like no time had passed at all, although it was evident that we are now both a little greyer!
There’s something profound about those kinds of connections – friendships rooted in shared purpose, carried forward into the next generation.
They remind us that the work we do, the relationships we invest in, often echo much further than we ever realise.
“One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.” — Psalm 145:4
It made me wonder, what seeds are we planting today that our children or those who come after us might one day reap with joy?

Up for the Chat

Yesterday, Cristi and I climbed Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.
It was a small adventure, but one that left a big mark on both of us.
It was just fun to talk, share and climb up together.
The hill rises about 251 metres (823 feet) above the city, and as we walked up its winding paths, we found more than just a view.
It was a beautiful warm spring day.
The kind where the sky feels a little brighter and people seem just a bit lighter too.
Tourists galore dotted the path, stopping for photos or catching their breath, but for us, the climb was more than a walk – it was some special time together.
Life is full on for both of us right now.
Cristi is deep in her final year at university, juggling studies, dissertations, and all the pressure that comes with finishing strong.
I’m balancing new work opportunities, coaching sessions, and leadership programmes that challenge and excite me in equal measure.
Plus, I’m putting in the final few weeks training for my big walk along the West Highland Way for Marys Meals in May.
In a way, we’re each climbing our own hills.
But yesterday reminded me how good it feels to pause, move our bodies with some good exercise, talk without any agenda, and share space with each other.
No rush.
No screens.
Just the rhythm of our steps and a conversation that flowed as easily as the breeze.
These moments may be brief, but experiences like these breathe life into the everyday.
They remind us of what really matters most: connection, movement, nature, and presence.
I’m grateful we made time for our walk and a healthy lunch afterwards!
We both needed it and enjoyed it too, more than we probably realised.
So, when’s your next moment to pause, breathe, and climb a little higher?

Scheduling with Heart

I enjoy a large network of people, including coaching & business clients, colleagues, and many friends all around the world.
Subsequently, my calendar is always buzzing with something!
Scheduling, it seems, is a constant daily ritual for me.
I’m always Juggling time zones, priorities, and opportunities to maintain my meaningful and important connections.
Yet, there’s one thing I’m determined to keep old-school: 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓!
While automated scheduling tools are all the rage these days, I prefer a much more personal touch.
I always seem to have competing priorities, yet for me, every meeting is unique, and I like the flexibility to decide when and where I meet someone.
Plus, I am constantly aware of Monic’s calendar too.
It’s not about efficiency, it’s more about intention.
Here are a few of my own tips for managing your schedule with heart:
1. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬: I try hard never to pack my day back-to-back. Allowing breathing spaces between calls are golden and absolutely essential.
2. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬: Connecting across the globe requires some care. A little planning can turn a logistical headache into a pleasant experience.
3. 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 “𝐲𝐞𝐬” 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐲: It’s often tempting to say yes to every meeting, but clarity on priorities helps me keep my calendar purposeful.
4. 𝐒𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 “𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡-𝐮𝐩” 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬: I block out times specifically for reconnecting with friends and colleagues, which really helps to keep key relationships thriving!
Scheduling isn’t just logistics; for me it’s also about relationships.
Whether it’s a coaching session or a catch-up call, each meeting represents an opportunity to connect.
How do you manage your calendar?
Are you a fan of online schedulers, or do you prefer a more hands-on approach?
I’d love to hear your stories, tips, or even some of those scheduling mishaps!

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 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.

Fleeting Visit

Yesterday, I had the briefest of opportunities to meet up with one of our returned missionaries Libby Wilcox, whilst she was visiting in Scotland for a couple of days with her mum and sisters.
It was the first of what I’m sure will be many visits from our missionaries who we served with in Belgium and the Netherlands.
We kept our visit simple. We only had 2 hours!
It was great fun to reminisce.
Visiting the Wallace Monument in Stirling and chatting over lunch, was special.

Life

We shared a few life updates.
Sharing feelings about our stories together was memorable.
But just being able to be close and hold tightly to those who matter most, was best of all.
Life is one of those precious fleeting gifts, and everything can change in a heartbeat.
It really helps to slow things down.
Simplify things.
Enjoy the moment.
Take one step, one piece, one chunk, one bite at a time.
And remember, loving one another is so supremely important.
“𝑭𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈” – something that happens really fast, or something that doesn’t last as long as you’d like.
Hans Christian Andersen, a great story writer, said this: “Time is so fleeting that if we do not remember God in our youth, age may find us incapable of thinking of him.”
And in the Book of Mormon, the Prophet Alma said: “… learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God. ” Alma: 37:35.
Working with 300+ youthful (18 – 26 year old) missionaries has taught me that we have to be present and always enjoy the moments we have together, as life is fleeting.
In hindsight, I can so relate to Jacob 7:26 “…the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream…”
Jacob describes the fleeting moments and hours of our life so well.
Moments simply blend into hours, hours into days, days into years, years into decades.
Being with Libby yesterday, was real, I know it wasn’t a dream.
How can you slow down those fleeting moments today?

Life is a Book

Life is a book made up of days;
Each one of us writes one;
Its opened when we come to earth
And closed when life is done.
No pen but ours ere touches it,
In our own way we write,
Whether we fall or we succeed,
Turns with the page at night.
And there is no erasing it
To add or take away,
The yesterday’s account is closed,
Sealed within white or grey.
The morning gives another sheet
That’s broad and very white,
And oh, how glorious to have
Another chance to write!
No bad is there too small to show,
No good that’s ever lost,
All that we do goes into Life’s Book
In black and white embossed.
– Zelda Davis Howard

Time Heals

Our time on earth is limited, yet the things to be done with our time are limitless.
It’s been six months today, since I broke my collar bone playing silly games at Zone Conference in Breda.
Actually, it feels just like yesterday…
That time has come and gone.
Physical tests come to us because of our mortality.
I’d never broken any bones before, and that day I became aware of so many different things.
I discovered lots about new physical aches, discomfort and pain.
In the first few days, time passed slowly and each day I had many ups and downs.

Healing

At times, I literally had to 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 on others to help me.
The miracle of the human body is that it went to work and self-repaired itself.
Today, I have healed.
Healing happens through the process of living and taking action.
Yet, the timeline of healing is different for everyone, one day at a time.
We cannot save time.
We cannot call it back.
We cannot re-use it.
We simply spend time and then it’s gone.
Yet, time does much – 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒔 – it softens pain and sorrows too.

Enduring

We don’t know what we can endure until we have to.
Yet there is one who truly endured all things.
It is through developing faith in Jesus Christ that accelerates and magnifies all healing.
He took upon Himself all “our infirmities” (see Alma 7:11-13/Luke 5:15) so that He can come to us “with healing in his wings.” – 2 Nephi 25:13.
Jesus Christ always stands ready to save us from the pain and sorrows of our wounded souls, no matter how much time it may take.
He places His healing balm on our wounds and binds them up.
𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏 on 𝐇𝐢𝐦.
Jesus Christ heals all wounds, and He can heal yours too, through time in small and simple ways.
He has for me.
And He can for you too.

Maturity

I am a witness to the power of missionary service.
Serving in a foreign land, learning a new language and adjusting to a different culture makes a tremendous difference in the life of every young missionary.
Departing from home, they arrive in the mission with many childish characteristics and behaviours.
It’s time to grow up!
Time passes.
Change happens.
Far from home, they become adults.
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became an adult, I put away childish things ” (1 Cor. 13:11).
Unlike childlike, childish suggests irresponsibility, being self-centred and immature.
Each of us will not mature spiritually until we choose, as the Apostle Paul phrased it, to “put away childish things.”
Missionary service is intense, demanding and frequently filled with hardship.
Yet, filled with a new purpose, each young man or woman, learns about being credible, reliable, accountable, disciplined and builds relationships of trust with God and others.
They develop their faith in God, they acquire wisdom through experience, they understand how to serve and love others.
They work hard, recognising that obedience, consistency, and endurance are all keys to success.
As they also learn to lead others, they must first master themselves and be steadfast in their service.
They choose to become Christlike and follow in His ways.
Over and over again, I watch each of them mature into adulthood.
How have you chosen to “put away childish things”?

Conversation Buddies

At our recent zone conferences, we held a communication activity.
We created a safe space to talk out loud and recreate a companionship council.
It was fun to observe, as each missionary verbalised their thinking.
They each taught one another something they didn’t know!
I noticed too, sometimes, we don’t listen to each other at all.
We may speak at each other, or past each other, rather than with each other.
Part of the exercise was to learn how to talk with one another in honest and effective ways.
Communication is an essential part of daily life, it’s like a lubricant for all our relationships.
Entering a conversation, we join with our own opinions, feelings, and experiences.
Conversations can hold immense power, create connection, and help us to grow.
With their conversation buddies, missionaries learned how to communicate more effectively, in turn leading to the need for some change.

Change

Change is hard.
We’re all human, and we all have our struggles, right?
Your biggest rival to change is most likely some internal obstacle that is going on in your head!
– A lack of confidence
– Laziness
– Procrastination
– Stubbornness
When we attempt to change, sometimes we may apply the wrong tactics.
Yet, daily, seemingly small decisions, can all add up to make a big difference.

Time

As I watch each missionary arrive at the start of their mission, over time, I see them develop, and change.
As each of them humbly turns to one another, and then ultimately turn to Jesus Christ’s great example, He increase’s their capacity to change.
Exercising their faith in Jesus Christ, it is only through Him, that they are all given the strength to make lasting changes in their lives.
He literally changes their hearts, because of His great love and empathy for the people He served.
He can and will do the same for each of us, as we accept His invitation to “Come Follow Him”.
Week in, week out, I am a witness to many, who have experienced a “change of heart” (Alma 5:26) as they learn more about divine communication.
Why not seek out a new conversation buddy, and speak with a missionary today…
How can faith in Jesus Christ help you to change?