Sell that thou hast, give to the poor, and follow me

I have had an interesting spiritual journey this morning, thinking about how to respond to a request from someone that I shall call Ruth who is in a really challenging situation at present. She came to South Africa because things were difficult in her home country. I have encouraged her to return to her home country, no matter how difficult that may be to do.

Sometimes we are where we are because of bad choices that we or someone else made, or because an angel sent us as Joseph and Mary were sent to Egypt, sometimes like Joseph sold into Egypt as a slave, sometimes like those following Moses out of Egypt, maybe sometimes because we were invited to sell all that we have and give to the poor and to follow Him. The past cannot change, but the future is what we need to determine. We need to go, do, say, be what He wants us to go, do, say, or be.

And then I read a scripture and it brought to mind my thinking earlier in the morning. 'And now, O king, if thou wilt spare our lives, we will be thy servants. And the king said unto them: Arise, for I will grant unto you your lives, and I will not suffer that ye shall be my servants; but I will insist that ye shall administer unto me; for I have been somewhat troubled in mind because of the generosity and the greatness of the words of thy brother Ammon; and I desire to know the cause why he has not come up out of Middoni with thee.'

We have decided to help this friend with a request for financial help in a difficult season of her life like when Ruth and Naomi were facing challenges in Moab. We hope that she pays it back in due course. More importantly, we hope that she is not robbing the Lord, but bringing her tithes and offerings into His storehouse in her branch or ward here in South Africa, in her home country, or wherever she may be at any time of her life. We challenged her to not let paying it back delay her going to her country, because she can pay it back from there, and she will be with her beloved family!

Whither Thou Goest, by Sandy Freckleton Gagon

I challenged her to think about where she would be now if she had not left her home country to come for what she hoped was a brighter future. How would she and her family be financially, but, more importantly, on the covenant path? I do not know if she was a member of the Lord's true and living church before she left her home country, or if coming here helped to add that wonderful blessing to her life and to her family. 

Also, will it be better for he to leave here without delay and go back to her family and get employment using her skills and qualifications in her home country, or to wait here for UIF (Unemployment Insurance Fund)? I presume that she can have the UIF sent to her without her needing to stay here, or sacrifice it if it will be better to go back to her family now!

I challenged her to please, ask the Father, in humility, what His will is - liken the Garden of Gethsemane experience of the Saviour to herself - Not my will, but Thine be done.

I know that many people have made serious decisions that have led to blessings in disguise, despite challenges that those decisions produced. We have been listening againto the history of the 1820 Settlers, British subjects who moved to the Eastern Cape in 1820. It was a real challenge for them. They had been facing real challenges in Britain after plagues, Napoleonic battles, and all sorts of things, and this was an opportunity. They had real challenges in the Cape due to war, sickness, crops failing due to rust disease and drought, but they did some good while they were here. 

Then the Lord sent missionaries to the Cape in 1853 and one of those missionaries was directed to the Eastern Cape where he taught those 1820 Settlers and others about the restored Gospel and most of them then went to Zion. The Lord knew where His children were, His sheep that would hear and recognise His voice and would follow Him.

Despite their faults and failings, while they were here, they did lift the local inhabitants as well and they prepared things like family history information that help us now to do Temple work to unite those who died to be part of our eternal family.

The Lord knows what He wants her to do, where to go, when to go, why to go, what to say, and what He wants her to be! Ask Him, and if He says to leave today or tomorrow or next month or next year, then obey! Don't tell Him what to do. Let Him guide her.

Her patriarchal blessing is His word to her, but the scriptures are His word to all of us. Read the scriptures and let His Spirit guide her. Read her patriarchal blessing prayerfully and regularly and let His Spirit speak to her. He knows her, and He loves her. Let Him be her guide and follow Him.

Thoughts of faith, hope, charity and resilience at Christmas time

I was asked to share some thoughts in our Christmas programme. It was suggested that I share some thoughts of examples of faith, hope and resilience. I reflected on several thoughts that I have had over the many years that I have thought of the example of that Babe who was born in Bethlehem, and the example that He set over the years, ending with His sacrifice that made possible the immortality and eternal life of man. Here is what I shared...

My parents encouraged my two sisters, two brothers, and me to remember some important things. They stressed some often. I guess that they felt that we needed to be reminded very regularly! Here are two things that we heard very frequently, especially during FHE.

• 'Remember that you are princes and princesses in Israel.' 
• They often had us read in 3 Nephi 11 '...And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been. For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.'

My parents really hoped that we would choose to live worthy of the title of Prince or Princess in Israel. It was not easy!

A young woman trying to be a princess

We watched My Fair Lady yesterday, and my mind turned to how my parents treated us as princes and princesses in Israel, and not as useless gutter snipes. I also reflected on how King Charles stressed during his Coronation that as king, he was there to serve and not to be served.

I have often reflected on how the babe born in Bethlehem whose birth we celebrate at Christmas time would have grown up with bullying, hate, and contention shown towards Him because His mother Mary was pregnant with Him before she married his supposed father Joseph. That rumour or accusation would have gone around - that kind of rumour or news, true or fake, sure does spread rapidly in 2024!

This man who had grown up with such a childhood and youth then frequently stressed that I - that you - should love my/our enemies - those bullies, those mean neighbours who spread false rumours and stories about me/we on social media, or are simply mean, 'orrible an' nasty in any way. 

Angels appeared to some 'shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night', and this caused them to be sore afraid. They said 'Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'

Then, this babe in Bethlehem needed to have His nappies changed, to be fed, and I have no doubt had to learn everything from scratch just as you and I did, adult spirits suddenly having an infant's body. I have no doubt that there was a veil drawn over His rememberance just as for every one of us, causing Him to forget everything. He had to grow, to take baby steps, to slowly become less dependent on Mary and Joseph.

Then, at some stage, wise men came from the East and visited Him, declaring things that Mary and Joseph had no doubt taught Him - that He was indeed conceived in a miraculous way and that He had some special mission to fulfil.

Following this, there was a threat on His life that Herod would condemn all children to death in order to remove the potential threat to his ruling over Israel, under the direction of the Romans. He then had to live as a refugee in Egypt for a while.

I have often pondered how He surely had to live in faith just as you and I did. He would have needed to wrap His mind around what His mother told Him about His Divine Nature. I have wondered how much personal confirmation from His Heavenly Father He might have had, and how much He had to live by faith as I had to when my parents taught me that I am a prince in Israel and so need to live like a prince in Israel ought to live. His Divine parentage would have been an infinitely bigger concept and challenge than I had. I am confident that He had to push on in faith that He wasn't delusional! With big dreams of himself!  The accounts of the angels appearing to shepherds who then came to the stable, of Simeon and Anna, and of the wise men, would probably have been reassuring to Him. But it would not have been easy for that young man to live up to those immense expectations.

I was looking at a book that my sister has about the snares of Satan and the first part of this quote that was unfamiliar to me. It referred to Luke 17:1 'Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!'? I was surprised to see how it links to verse 2 that is familiar to me 'It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.'

Brothers and sisters, we need to heed His counsel - our duty as members - to manifest a 'Godly walk and conversation …  walking in holiness before the Lord.' (D&C 20:68-69) This is particularly important at this time when we celebrate the words spoken by the angels 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' Luke 2:14

May we remember that, probably the most frequently quoted scripture in all of Christendom is the prayer that the Lord taught in the sermon on the mount. 'Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.' Should there any doubt that if our Father is a King, then we are Princesses and Princes?

I am impressed as I read some of my thoughts about Mary and Joseph from my studying their stories a few years back. After the angel appeared to Joseph during the night, he would be realising that he was being called to be the 'father' to the child that would be born to a virgin as had been prophesied. This would be a daunting call! I salute Joseph and Mary for how they accepted and fulfilled their calls. It would have been a heart rending decision for both Mary and Joseph, and for their families! The stigma would be attached to the whole family of Mary being pregnant out of wedlock. Yes, there was the prophecy, but it would not be easy to sell their situation as being the fulfilment of that prophecy as opposed to unchastity or fornication. Being put to death, probably by stoning, was a possible threat, although this might be seen as fornication and not adultery. Roman law might have prevented stoning, but the stigma was real. This was a difficult challenge to accept!  

I suppose that there might have been times during the pregnancy, during early years, at any time, when doubt might have returned? Satan would surely have caused doubt, mistrust, accusation, slander, misery towards Mary, Joseph, and towards their respective families, and towards the boy Jesus! There would certainly be moments of comfort as someone would see indication or evidence of support for this baby, this boy, this youth, this man being special, different, prodigious, divine. But how often were there moments of doubt, niggling, casual, that he was just normal, even distasteful because of the stigma behind his conception out of wedlock? I'm sure that Satan would have used every opportunity to sow and nurture doubt.

Of course, the word that was spread by the shepherds after visiting the stable, of Anna and Simeon in the Temple, and of the visit of the wise men would have been reassuring to them and the families as well. But they would all have needed faith, hope, charity and resilience in fulfilling their unusual and special missions.

It takes faith, hope and perseverance to faithfully remember and live up to what Jesus of Nazareth chose to live up to from childhood, and all the way to adulthood when He fulfilled His mission and promise to live as the Son of God. You and I are princes and princesses in Israel. I think this is somewhat lower than He was. May we each choose to desire to keep the promises that we made at baptism and that we reaffirm every time that we partake of the sacrament - to 'eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them'. (Moroni 4:3) We are then promised that we will always have His Spirit to be with us. We need His Spirit. Oh, don't we need His Spirit! Heavenly Father will keep His promise. May we keep our promise and freely give the ultimate gift of surrendering our agency to Him at this Christmas time. May we live in faith, hope, charity, and perseverance as princesses and princes in Israel, is my humble prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Remembering Jean Dorothy de Villiers, 07 Apr 1939 - 31 Jan 2024

 As I prepared thoughts about Jean to share at the time of her memorial, my thoughts turned to a comment by her son Etienne who said that God must have messed up because why do people not live hundreds of years now? Methuselah, an Old Testament patriarch lived 969 years, so why did Jean die so young? I mused on how our measurement of time might have changed since Lamech's days, but this is a subject for another discussion!

On the morning of the memorial I happened to listen to an article Peace and Joy, Not Grief, Dominated My Heart. Why? in the Feb 2024 Liahona magazine and shared a paragraph with Jean's family. This is an account of a family who lost their father due to Parkinson's disease. Then as I continued to listen, I noticed that it mentioned the hymn 227 There is Sunshine in my Soul Today that we sang to open this service and I shared that with the family. Such a coincidence!

I remember so many things that my mother used to tell me. Like 'Do not walk on the road in the middle of the day with bare feet because you will be hurt.' Guess what - Yep! I walked on the road with bare feet. And yep! my feet got sore because the road was hot, and sometimes the eina was because of a duiweltjiedoring (devil thorn or Tribulus terrestris). I learned that it was wisdom to listen to what my mother counselled. It would be far better for me to learn from running on the road barefoot and realising the value in following my mother's counsel than for me to not obey when she said 'Do not put your hand on the hot plate of the stove because you will burn yourself.' If I did this, I could be seriously injured and if the stove were really hot, I might even lose my hand. 

My thoughts went back to Adam and Eve. God put them into the Garden of Eden that was truly wonderful and beautiful. In Genesis where we read of this, we learn that He made the 'great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.' I clearly have a lot to learn because animals do not listen well to me, but they evidently understood Him and were fruitful and did multiply and I have really enjoyed seeing wonderful living things in the Namib Desert and in our forests, and all of our types of landscape. It is amazing how much abundant life there is in the desert! I smile as I often share how fortunate I am to have chosen to follow the botany side of my BSc degree rather than the zoology side - photographing plants is so much easier than photographing many animals! Wind, depth-of-field-of-focus, and light might be a problem, but at least the plants stay put! Tortoises are not too bad, but almost all butterflies, lizards, birds, fieldmice, and fast animals are really difficult to photograph - I take my hat off to those who take such magnificent photographs of the exceptionally remarkable and beautiful animals created by our Creator.

I have spent a lot of time in the Namib Desert but I have never seen rain. However, on one occasion we were there shortly after rain and I have a special memory of driving in the desert and seeing that the dunes were green! I usually saw only wind-blown sand that formed the dunes and as we arrived at the green dunes and looked with a bird's-eye-view we could see a lot of open sand that was simply hidden from our view by the blades of grass. This brought to mind a memory of one of the things that my mother often quoted 'It takes the effort of every blade of grass to keep the meadow green.' Memories like this are special because it reminds me that my mother may be dead, but her memory lives on as I reflect on the wise things that I learned from her. Her spirit lives on, and also she is present in my life because of her influence in my life.

God then created man - male and female - and 'blessed them, and God said unto them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.' He put them into a garden planted eastward in Eden with 'every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.' He instructed Adam to tend and to keep the garden, and that 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.' After this, Eve was created as an help meet for Adam. We know the story of how Eve was tempted by the serpent saying 'your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' Eve 'saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.' 

And - death was introduced because Adam and Eve did partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And they were cast out of the garden of Eden, and instructed to till the earth, with the opposition of thorns and thistles and all, and to eat their bread by the sweat of their face - and Eve became the mother of all living. We learn in 2 Peter that a day in the Lord's time is as a thousand years, so Adam and Eve, and even Methuselah, died within the day of mortality that each partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil when he ran barefoot on a hot road or a devil's thorn or some other transgression. Each one if us has gained a knowledge of good and evil by transgressing some instruction and receiving the consequences of a choice - and we will all die within our day of mortality.

I often share how sure I am that our loving Heavenly Father did not want His children to not have a knowledge of good and evil! Just like loving parents want their children to not hurt their feet on a hot road or devil's thorn, but know that they probably will and want them to learn about choices and consequences, God wants His children to be able to distinguish between good and evil and it is His hope for us is that we will desire to choose to do good, and to not choose evil. In the garden of Eden there was no evil, no lack, no opposition, no bitter, no pain, no sickness, no death. They could not have a knowledge of these while in the presence of God who wants His children to become like Him, and they could not have children because they had not yet fallen to the mortal state. We have an eternal journey - and this life from birth to death is simply part of that journey. 

Jesus of Nazareth shared the parable of the talents. He told of a man travelling into a far country and entrusting one servant with five talents, one with two talents and one with one talent, according to their several ability. Two of these servants then traded with the talent, or added five and two talents to their five and two, and one feared the austerity of his master and hid his talent. After some time he returned and called for an accounting. The one with ten talents was commended 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.'. The one with four talents received the same commendation. But the one who had buried his talent was reprimanded for not having at least invested the talent to get some interest on the investment, saying 'Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' I am confident that if the man with one talent had traded and doubled his talent, he would have received the same commendation and if either with five or two talents had buried them, they would have received the same reprimand  

May we be fruitful and multiply, and replenish that with which we have been endowed.

I was struck this morning while reading Romans 8:28 'And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.' Then I noticed a note that I have made about three years ago regarding verses 6 to 7. 'For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' I noted that being carnally minded includes the amount of time given to carnal things as well as the amount of time given to spiritual things. It is not mutually exclusive. It is not a sin to eat and enjoy our food, nor to work and enjoy our work, or to play or perform or watch sport or entertainment or art and enjoy it. Too much focus on these things can become evil. The thing is to give a very good amount of time to loving and serving God and performing His work and drawing close to Him and enjoying that!

It is so good to be able to use the Gospel Library app on my phone. I tend to do far more highlighting and notes than I could easily do in the hard copy scriptures that I used as a younger fellow. I have such a very long way to go to reach the level of Heavenly Father, but He wants me to have a godly walk and conversation, walking in holiness before Him. I love an insight that I received from the Spirit years ago - anyone who repeated the Lord's prayer in school like we did during every assembly, or at any time in the past or now, is acknowledging that we have a Heavenly Father, and that He has a kingdom, and so we each have noble duties and responsibilities as sons and daughters of the King of Heaven - princes and princesses! Everyone who worships the God of Abraham, whether they call Him God, Heavenly Father, Jehovah, Elohim, Allah, or whatever, is serving the same one God - the same God to whom Jesus of Nazareth, our Messiah, constantly directed all glory.

It is recorded in John 17 that Jesus Christ said of His disciples 'That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.' Jesus Christ and His father are so perfectly united that they are referred to as the one God - a perfect team. They want us to be a perfect team - being one with each other and one with them. I have such a long way to go in becoming all that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ hope that I will become - I can but move forward step by step, day by day, small goal by small goal, thorn by thorn, and so forth. Just as Jesus did - and He is my example - I need to increase 'in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man' in order to become what He wants me to become. I suppose that even Jesus might have had a devil's thorn experience in his lifetime in Bethlehem, or Nazareth, or somewhere since devil thorns probably occurred in the land of Israel in His day.

My progress started millennia before the day that I was born and will continue millennia after the day that I die. Just as the ring on my finger symbolises eternity as it has no beginning and no ending, so our lives are eternal. There are milestones along the way like birth, death, resurrection, judgement, but those are only points along the strait gate and narrow way. 

Jean said to me one day that it will probably be boring in the Celestial Kingdom because everyone would be the same! I could reassure her that we will all be equal, but certainly not the same. Artists will be artists, sportsmen will be sportsmen, intellectuals, accountants, shepherds, fishermen, carpenters, sailors, and whatever our gifts, each talent will go with us into the eternities. I am confident that Heavenly Father is not lacking in any talent or skill and He wants us to grow and become balanced in all strengths. Just as in the parable of the talents that I shared above. But I think that we will be able to still hold onto some special passions and gifts although lacking none.

Life is like a jigsaw puzzle - probably with far more than 1000 pieces - and there will be times that a piece goes missing because it fell under a chair, or one might be placed in the wrong position and look almost right but then the right piece will turn up and we will see that we had made a mistake and we will find the right place for the wrongly placed piece, and the picture will become more complete and pleasing as time passes. Some might not have had a chance to start their puzzle as they died as little babes. For some there will still be many pieces to be put in their places and for some they might be enjoying a very nearly complete puzzle and maybe some will have what certainly seems like a complete puzzle but due to conditions associated with age they might not see or hear or remember or sense everything so well anymore. Whatever our puzzle picture may be, it will be a picture of divine design that will be pleasing to us. Similarly, as our lives fall into place as we love Him and keep His commandments, we will feel the presence of the Comforter who shall testify of Christ, and guide us to all truth. We will feel comfort knowing that death is part of the cycle of life. In nature each living thing dies and becomes a benefit to others, as food, or nourishing or uplifting or building in some or other way. I remember my colleague commenting on flowers decorating a shopping mall - he said that he could see that they were artificial because they were too perfect. Real flowers would be chewed by beetles or worms. Death is not final, though, but it is an essential step along the journey.

Many years after my parents have passed on to the next stage of their eternal journey, I still have them with me in the memories of their counsel. They often reminded us that we are princes and princesses in Israel - I guess that our behaviour suggested that we needed constant reminders of that... There were some other things that they very frequently had us read like no contention, or Love at Home. Some phrases were frequently shared like 'A gentleman treats even a milkmaid as a lady', 'Don't think that you are so great - remember that a goatherd on the mountains of Transkei can probably speak more languages than you can', 'The world needs street sweepers - but more importantly, the world needs excellent street sweepers!', and as already mentioned, 'It takes the effort of every bladed of grass to keep the meadow green'. Your grief might well be accompanied by relief that the lingering or suffering is over. We can, and should, be hopeful and not hopeless. The influence of our loved one will remain with us for all of life. We can also find hope in the knowledge that we can be reunited for all of eternity through the sealing ordinances of the priesthood. 

I am strongly impressed by how the Gospel is being preached to every creature. As I have shared our South African history with visitors, the Spirit whispered to me that, for all of the faults of colonisers around the world, they have taken the Bible, Torah, Qur'an and the religion of the God of Abraham to all parts of the world, as well as education, health, industry, technology, and so many things that have fulfilled to promise to Abraham that through his seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I have been particularly impressed by how millions of Saints of every kindred, tongue and people all around the world have been studying the same things together this past week. I remember being impressed when I visited a congregation in Italy in 2001 and they were learning in Italian precisely the same lesson material as I had learned with my family in Cape Town. Similarly in Berlin, Germany in 2005, although there were enough English speaking saints that we learned together in English. I have also enjoyed learning in various units in England the same things that my family was learning in Cape Town. That is one example of being one as disciples of Jesus Christ. 

This past week we have learnt from 2 Nephi 2 where it talks of Adam and Eve needing to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in order to be able to have children, and how this was part of the opposition that is needed in all things, the sweet and the bitter, and how 'Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.' We have the great ability to act and not only to be acted upon. It talks of how the Messiah is part of that joy as He came and redeemed us from the fall so that our bodies that die physically will be reunited with our spirits in the resurrection, and just as Adam and Eve were sent out of God's presence in the garden of Eden, we were separated from God when we were born, and we will re-enter His presence to be judged. His hope is that we will have become such that He can say 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.' 

It is my testimony that we lived before we were born - individuals, children of Heavenly Parents, male, female, potential shepherds, fishermen, carpenters, tax collectors, sales people, shop managers, bead artists, creative people like Jean, botanists like me, or whatever, and that we chose there to follow the plan presented by our Heavenly Father and not to follow the alternative plan presented by Lucifer. We then came to this mortal stage of life where Lucifer and his angels invite and entice us to be miserable like unto himself. I cannot see why anyone would want to be miserable, but they are not necessarily told that the choice that they are being tempted to make will make them miserable - but if something sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is! Some become slaves to addictions. Some become miserable because they compare themselves to others and envy or covet what they do not have instead of rejoicing in the bounteous blessings that they do have. Some desire to be thieves, murderers, adulterers, liars, deceivers, and get great excitement as they suppress others or enslave others or hurt others. 

Heavenly Father wants us to treat everyone as we would want to be treated. I have a special memory of being with a Franciscan monk in a room in East London during 1974 after he had preached in the Catholic chapel - who knows if someone reading this might have been in that room with the group of young people who were meeting with him. Somehow I felt impressed to share that John told us that if a man says that he loves God but hates his brother, he is a liar. Jesus told us that the two great commandments are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength; and that we must love our neighbour as ourself. Then I shared what the Spirit taught me at that moment - it has to start with me loving myself in order to love my neighbour as myself - and we need to love our neighbour whom we can see - then that is part of what confirms that we love the Lord our God whom we cannot see. 

Some of us die at birth, some as infants, children, youth, adults, or geriatrics. Some die as a result of accidents, some after lingering and painful afflictions, some simply of natural causes. Each and every one will continue to learn and grow beyond death. That is the wonderful message of the Gospel that has been restored in its fullness in the latter days. There is a lot of good and truth in the world, but the Lord has said that He has restored the true and living Church with which He is well pleased, speaking of them collectively and not individually, for He cannot look upon with the least degree of allowance. I pray that I will always be an example of the believers, bearing witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Collectively And Not Individually

I gave a reply to someone who was questioning why 'a disciple can only receive a fulness of the glory of the Father in the Celestial Kingdom.' I gave this rather long reply. I hope that it gives each person reading this good cause to reflect on her or his efforts.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-art-book/church-history?lang=eng

The Spirit has spoken to me over the years to teach me, when I was on mission wondering what right I had to upset the applecart of really wonderful people who were earnestly striving to serve God, Jesus, Heavenly Father, or whatever they called Him. They were doing great work and by declaring to them that there was more than they had, I could do nothing less than upset their happy walk along their path of discipleship.

After a long time of pondering this and pleading for a reason to remain on my mission, I was impressed to 'Read D&C 1'. I read it, then reread it, then reread it, and I was struck by the declaration that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is 'the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased'. With further reading and pondering the Spirit spoke to me that this is 'speaking unto the church collectively and not individually—For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;' and then further insight 'Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven; And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts.'

Then, in recent months, the Spirit spoke again and confirmed that the declaration to Joseph Smith in the grove that Joseph 'must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”' It was made clear to me that this applies to them collectively and not individually, for some are truly devoted disciples of the God of Abraham, whatever they call Him - God, Father God, Jesus, Jehovah, Allah, or whatever. If they are devoted to serving the God of Abraham, then they are worshipping and serving the same God that we serve, and they will be blessed for all of the good that they do. Indeed, many of them are far better examples of true disciples of Jesus Christ that I might be, or you might be. How often do we hear reference to Mother Theresa, CS Lewis, and others who may possibly be far more effective serving God outside the restored Church than they might be able to do inside the Church. That puts the onus on us to make it possible for these wonderful disciples to receive the ordinances of the Temple by proxy.

I know that God will not deny any blessings to anyone who qualifies for them. But, He has made it very clear that the fullness can only be achieved in the Celestial Kingdom where God, the Father, reigns in righteousness. You and I may be held accountable if we have neglected to help them to receive their Temple blessings! We have no place holding ourselves above anyone - 'For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.'

I know that God will truly bless everyone for every good that she or he does, and not hold back anything, but He also cannot reward anyone for things that she or he neglects to do when they had the light!

God delights to bless us. Let us be fully worthy of His blessings, my brother.

Have I shared with you how the Spirit spoke to me saying that we need to be worthy to hold a Temple Recommend in order to receive a patriarchal blessing? Yep, I knew that. Then I was impressed that, in order to fully benefit from that patriarchal blessing (God speaking to me personally) ten or twenty years later, I need to be worthy of a Temple Recommend! Then the Spirit added that in order to really benefit from the scriptures (God speaking to all of His children) I really need to be worthy of a Temple Recommend! That is a really good reason to always have a current Temple Recommend. I know that those who neglect that simple symbol of their devotion to discipleship will almost certainly be numbered among those foolish virgins who were left outside the marriage feast because they lacked sufficient oil in their lamps.

This is a long reply to your comment, but I think it might be somewhat shorter than your Facebook post 😉

Please prioritise being in the Temple as often as you possibly can be, and doing Temple and Family History work, or FamilySearch Indexing, when you cannot personally and regularly be inside the House of the Lord. Keep all of your covenants, attend your sacrament and priesthood meetings, show the Lord that you mean business and He might just relieve you of some of your suffering that you might sometimes feel is a reason for not being as fully committed and present as you can be. 

I share this loving counsel and encouragement in the name of our Messiah, Jesus Christ, amen.

I might add that I have learned that the 'individually and not collectively' (and 'collectively and not individually') applies in any group setting. We often look at a group such as nation, tribe, gender, class of people, city, town, religious affiliation, atheism, career, art, sport, language, or any generalisation and treat everyone in that collective as fitting the mold that we envisage for that collective. But I know many individuals in almost every collective that do not match the criteria of the whole (such as religious extremists that give an impression that should not be applied to the whole) or achievers (such as those who take themselves out of the 'gutter' and become very successful contributors to society). Let us put away our prejudices and not focus on -ites, but rather look for the good in individuals and collectives, and appreciate the good that there is in any individual or group. 

PS. I have had a lot of insight from the Spirit over the past 50 years about the descriptions 'individually' and 'collectively' relative to looking at the only true and living church, and 'join none of them, for they were all wrong'.  I have come to realise that some people who are true disciples of Jesus Christ might well have a mission to serve outside the true and living church, and I'm the one who will be judged if I condemn them, or fail to help them to receive the essential ordinances after they complete their mission in mortality. I have pondered about someone in the middle of China or India 500 years ago who finds a Bible and becomes a truly exemplary disciple of Jesus Christ but never gets to meet anyone who can baptise her or him. I have thought about how someone needed to betray Jesus Christ; someone needed to be Pilate; or the soldier scourging Jesus; or hammering in nails to nail Him to the cross; or Martin Luther; or John Calvin; or Christopher Columbus; or Mother Theresa; or CS Lewis; or anyone who missed the boat travelling to Zion because their mission kept them busy elsewhere in time or space. I know that our truly loving, gracious and merciful Heavenly Father will not say 'Too bad. You missed out and cannot enter into the kingdom of God because you were not born of the water and of the spirit.' He would not want anyone to not return to His Kingdom, or be 'glad to be rid of that one'. It is entirely our choice to accept - or to not accept - or to not reject - or to reject - His invitation. He will honour our choice, even if it grieves Him if we do not double the talents that He gave to us according to our several ability. It is me, individually, and not any collective, that will be judged by He who looks on the heart and not on the outward appearance.

A 'Homeless debate' on social media - US or THEM - which am I?

A video was shared recently on a social media group. The video shows homeless people making homes adjacent to the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. The video was accompanied by this comment:

Gra: This was posted on another group. People ask if we can honestly call this one of the world's best tourist destinations. A group of Israelis I was touring with today asked me what is being done to house the homeless and how can the city allow this to happen. This is not the only place this is occurring. 

Derek: Tnx Gra. We need to embrace what is real. The homeless do not have a place to go to. 

 To which I made a comment:

Me: I have very mixed feelings on this subject. I have dealt with many homeless people. I contribute to many homeless shelters. I believe that some of the people who go to homeless shelters go there hoping that they can improve their lives so that they can become the opposite of being homeless and provide for others. 

     My grave concern is for many that appear to me to choose to remain homeless, receiving, but with no real determination to be contributors. I worry that I may, at times, have added to the problem by giving to some beggars who are still just beggars years later, begging at an intersection where others are trying to sell stuff in order to earn a living. Begging in places where there is a lot of litter and they don't care enough to clean up what they appear to choose as their home. 

     I am glad that we're told to not judge, but to leave judging to Him who knows the heart. I happily lay the burden of judging at His feet and just try to give responsibly in the hope that I will be judged fairly.

Some chatting about the plight of homeless people, followed be:

Derek: Which ever way we look at it. The homeless population (for whatever reason) is growing exponentially, and are being more restricted for places to go to.
My response: I've often looked at them and wondered why most of them are not at their fatherland farming and providing food and employment for people rather than hoping that someone will provide for them. 
     I've looked at pictures of starving people in various countries and they are surrounded by open land with no crops growing. 
     I've spoken to someone who abandoned his farm because the irrigation does not work. When I asked him why he didn't fix it he replied that the white man does that. 
     Each person needs to find solutions rather than being stymied by problems and always expecting someone to provide for them. We changed our babies' nappies, fed them and clothed them. But we expected them to grow up and become self-reliant. 
     Our constitution states that every citizen has equal rights and spells out those rights. Then it says that every citizen has equal responsibility. I have yet to hear any politician tell the citizens of South Africa to not expect the government to be responsible for each person's rights but that each citizen has the responsibility to ensure the rights of every other citizen. That is what democracy is...

Further discussion over a few days, and then a response to my previous comment:

Unknown responder: You’re making an assumption that these people are all black when in fact there are increasing numbers of white ex-middle class people amongst these homeless. This US and THEM talk is very counterproductive and creates more problems than it solves.

So, I wonder if the US or THEM refers to homeless vs homed, black vs white. US and THEM also often refers to privileged vs underprivileged, advantaged vs disadvantaged, straight vs gay, or any other 'opposite' groups, but in either sense, I believe that I can affiliate to some degree with each of these groups. 

I grew up in a family with a reasonable home, but we had a simple old car, and generally simple things. I remember feeling really privileged when my father bought a slide projector. This was the 'entry level projector' that was fully manual. I later noticed many of my acquaintances who had fancy carousel or automated slide projectors. I realised early in life that my parents invested in educating their children rather than in fancy clothes.  That broadened my viewpoint.

I remember a friend asking if he could buy a really old pair of jeans that I had worn to the point of it falling apart because the fashion was to wear what looked like worn-out jeans. I always bought the cheapest jeans and wore them as long as I could and he was offering me more than I had paid for them. I still cannot understand why someone pays for something that looks like it would not pass a Quality Control test because it has holes in it... That broadened my viewpoint.

In 1973 I spent a night in prison in Empangeni. My three companions and I were not guilty of any crime, but we were locked up in prison because we had no other place to stay for the night. Each of us was given a blanket similar to the one that I had had in the army the previous year, but the mattress was simply a thick layer of felt. That broadened my viewpoint.

I have often slept under the stars in various parts of the county, including one night that I was entirely on my own in the Namib dunes close to a dry river bed, and all that I could hear that night was the barking sound of some hyena and the singing in my ears. That broadened my viewpoint.

I have spent hours on Sundays or days off wandering on my own in the Namib Desert, savanna, Kalahari, Namaqualand, Succulent Karoo, Nama-Karoo, Fynbos, spekboomveld, grasslands, on beaches, and other open spaces all around our delightful South Africa, South West Africa/Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland/Eswatini. I walked many kilometres on each of those days. All that I saw besides the wonderful vegetation, landscape, sky and the environment, were buck, ostrich, beetles, lizards, snakes, birds, of many species and animal life forms, and on rare occasions another human being. That broadened my viewpoint.

I slept on my own, on the ground, in a tent in Sperrgebiet. That broadened my viewpoint.

I have spent time alone with people of many race groups and nationalities, with just two of us, or groups of varying sizes, discussing life, eating, socialising, working, sleeping in the same room, bungalow, or tent.  That broadened my viewpoint.

My already sympathetic feeling of respect and honour towards the LGBTQ community was enhanced when a gay colleague said, when accommodation was limited for a meeting, that he would not share a room with any other man because it would make him feel unfaithful to his partner. That broadened my viewpoint.

I remember in about 1983 when I was teaching at a Jewish school, and a Jewish colleague turned to me while a young male scholar was talking disparagingly about the informal settlements near the Cape Town airport, 'I wonder if he has been to Tel Aviv and seen the informal settlements there?' That broadened my viewpoint.

I have a child married 'across the colour bar' and I have a grandchild of 'mixed race'. That broadened my viewpoint.

I have been unemployed on at least four occasions. I had to hire myself out doing odd jobs and repairs. That broadened my viewpoint.

My wife has been permanently incapacitated and unable to work in her profession for nearly 20 years. That continues to broaden my viewpoint.

My wife and I were astonished to hear on the news that the aircraft Helderberg, a Boeing 747-200 Combi, 'experienced a catastrophic in-flight fire in the cargo area, broke up in mid-air, and crashed into the Indian Ocean east of Mauritius, killing all 159 people on board.' We had flown on that same aircraft in July 1981, about 7 months after its maiden flight, and while flying over the Atlantic Ocean at about 11pm I was aroused from my sleep by a strange noise. Looking out of the window I saw lights flashing past us and asked Sally if we had landed - to which she said that we had not. Damage had occurred in one engine and after landing we discovered that debris from that engine had been thrown into the neighbouring engine such that we flew for several hours and landed on Ilha Do Sal (Sal, Cape Verde) where we waited 24 hours for a replacement aircraft to take us on to New York. That broadened my viewpoint. And yet, I still fly on aircraft, old or new...

 

Our flight on the Helderberg in July 1981

One of the passengers pointing at the point of the explosion.

I am far from perfect - I acknowledge that. But I hope that I am becoming less and less prejudiced, and certainly not discriminatory, as my viewpoint becomes increasingly broadened and inclusive. I love our national mottos. When I was young we often quoted Ex Unitate Vires (transl. "from unity, strength", Eendracht maakt macht, or Unity is Strength), and in our present era, ! ke e: /xarra //ke, written in the Khoisan language of the /Xam people, literally meaning Diverse People Unite.

I feel it appropriate to share something that I shared in response to a video blaming all whites for causing all of the corruption in the ANC government or the EFF party: I am a cheeky ou, Colin. I ask myself - if Sterkfontein, Mapungubwe, Agulhas plain, and other notable sites in South Africa are sites of the cradle of humankind, and if I am descended from the first humankind, am I any less at home in the Fairest Cape than is someone with a darker skin and darker eyes? I reckon that I have just returned to my fatherland. If that is the case and I am as at home as anyone whose ancestors wandered away and then returned, then our skin colour is simply a sign of genetic variability and we are as equal as anyone can ever be. What is the problem of someone who blames 'whites' for anything that he does not want to accept as being his own fault? Somehow that sounds a bit like 'hate speech', prejudice, narrow-mindedness, or something like that, and more a part of the problem that part of the solution 🤔 But then, what do I know? 😉

I hope that anyone reading this will have his or her viewpoint broadened and seek to be inclusive and not exclusive, united and not divided, a builder and not a wrecker, part of the solution and not part of the problem. As imperfect as my efforts are in this regard, I continue to try. I hope that my mind, mental and emotional capability, and my brain and body, will enable me to always continue to try to be intentionally open-minded and inclusive as I advance in years.

I felt impressed add more thoughts that you might be interested in reading. See 

'A promise of an eternal marriage for LGBTQ+ individuals - well, for anyone'.

Some thoughts regarding love and same gender attraction

Careers in Biodiversity - or careers in life

This blog post is written for anyone thinking about what to do with however many minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, decades, or any amount of time during her or his mission on this planet Earth. 

This is based on a talk that I have given at schools, universities, to audiences that included interns, youth, young adults, and others. I hope that you enjoy reading it and broadening your outlook on career development for you and anyone that you might influence - like children, grandchildren, or anyone!

Before I go any further, let me point out that I worked for more than 30 years at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden on the slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town. This garden is one of the top 7 botanical gardens in the world. Here are some photos that demonstrate some of the beauty and wonder of this place, and the delight that I had working there.

Now for the talk...

The tax payers of South Africa that largely fund the SANBI work

SAFARIS volunteers

Interns

SANBI staff

Early biodiversity explorers in southern Africa

Anyone contributing to making the world a better place.

I would invite the members of the audience to:

Introduce yourself.

Explain your interests and background.

What is the level of expertise already in the room?

Take a photo of the group for the SANBI record!

I have a cute GIF that I prepared that shows this dog being wagged by its tail. I would say to the audience:

Don’t let the tail wag the dog

Just because many people around you seem to have more of anything than you have – money, beauty, fame, skill, talent, glam, power, or sommer anything! – don’t let that cause you to be anything less than you are created to be.

Just because MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Macros, GIS, Visual Basic, Python , field work, careers, or anything that I teach, can do or be something is not reason for you to have to do it.

Keep it simple, concentrate on what you need to accomplish, and don’t lose sleep over all the things that life can do or be that you don’t know how to do or be.

This talk will introduce you to things that you may not remember, but at least you will have an idea of some things that can be done.

The most important thing is to be the best that you can be. My mother often said ‘The world needs streetsweepers, but, more importantly, the world needs excellent streetsweepers.’ I include shepherds, carpenters, fisherman, plumbers, mechanics, electricians, doctors, lawyers, accountants, scientists, or any career. Be excellent in whatever you set out to be. No career is insignificant or inferior if you will be excellent in whatever you choose for your career path and see your role in helping to make the world a better place for each of its occupants. 

As I was typically talking at or for SANBI, I would remind them of the SANBI motto.

uGreat, the SANBI motto: Ubuntu; Growth; Respect & Tolerance; Excellence; Accountability; Togetherness

You are part of the uGreat team

Know what I am presenting today can do, or at least you have an idea.

Then you can communicate with a team member who can get this tool to do what you need to do at the time that you need it.

This presentation is on the network

If I move too fast for you, or if you want to review something, find this presentation later in [M:][\\172.16.1.170\KRC Department Folders]\Public\InternSkillsDevelopment

The examples, questions and practice documents will also be there

Following are some images the depict some of the exciting things that I have done during my career - only a small part of what I have done!

Some of my journey

Born and grew up on the West Rand

Spent time in Transvaal, Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, England, SWA/Namibia, Isla Do Sol, New York, Utah, Los Angeles, Iowa, Washington DC, widely in all 9 provinces of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Italy, Germany…

Florida Primary School, Florida Park High School, Wits University, University of Cape Town, Latter-day Saint, Ensign Scout Troop…

5^th generation African besides deriving from Cradle of Humankind in Africa!

Earthling! Human! Each of us is a Child of ‘our Father which art in Heaven’, the King of all Creation – we are princes or princesses.

Employment: Self-employed doing home repairs (I am embarrassed to say that the first dividing wall that I built was not all perfectly vertical); Technician in Namib Desert; horticultural chemist; biochemistry SU Medical School laboratory technician; Herzlia teacher; Kirstenbosch; troop Scoutmaster; …

NBG (MSc, plant chemical taxonomy, education officer and botanist, garden guide), BRI (Stress Ecology Research Programme), NBI and SANBI (head of IT in NBI Cape, data basing, programming, coding, simulation modelling, climate change studies, degradation modelling, vegetation mapping, ecology, technologist, First Aider, health and safety officer and committee chair, employment equity, mentor, teacher, lecturer, …)
Son, brother, husband, father of 5, grandfather of 11 in 2024… 

The following 17 slides show just some of the interesting things that have been part of my wonderfully fulfilling career.

I loved working in this team, and being part of so many wonderful experiences, tasks, travels, projects, responsibilities, and so much more.

I would ask the audience who they imagine might be employed at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden where I was based for more than 30 years:

The more obvious:

Botanist

Zoologist

Ecologist

Nature conservator

Horticulturist

----------------------------------

And then I would point out others that work in such an organisation.

The behind-the-scenes:

Artists

Assessment

Biochemist

Biodiversity informatics

Bioregional plans

Bus driver

Climate change

Collections manager

Compliance

Dietician

Draftsman

Economists

Editors

Education officer

Entomologist

Estate manager

Ethnobotany

Forestry

Gardener

Geneticist

GIS/GIS technician

Graphic designer

Groundsman

Health & Safety

Herpetologist

Herbarium curator

Infrastructure

Invasives (Early Detection and Rapid Response)

Investers

Journalism

Librarian

Marketing

Marine biologist

Marine ranger

Motor mechanic

Media (photos, film)

Molecular biology

Movie director

Museum curator

Nature Conservationist

Photographer

Policy advice

Population biologist

Project management

Publishing/Publications

Red listing

Statistician

Stewardship

Taxidermist

Taxonomist

Technologist

Training

Vegetation survey

Vet

Web design

Then I would include SANBI as a whole: 

The list goes on!

Accountant

Administrators

Agriculture

Architects

Assets

Auditors

Bookshop

Caterers

Cleaner

Clerk

Climate change

Communication

Corporate Services

Data management

Driver

DTP

Events coordinator

Facilities manager

Finances

Handyman

Human resources

IT procurement

IT technician

Laboratory technician

Landscaper

Lecturer: natural resource/biodiversity governance and management, land issues…

Legal adviser

Mowers

Municipal support

Occupational Health, Safety & Environment (OHSE)

Operational and Quality Managers

Outreach

Permitting

Receptionist

Reservations Consultant (conserve Africa's spectacular biodiversity)

Restaurants

Scientist

Secretaries

Security

Supply Chain Manager

Systems Management

Teacher

Telephonist

Typist

Urban Development Experts in urban sustainability

And more…

The biodiversity sector includes:

SANBI

Botanical gardens

SANParks

Universities

City Parks

Garden Centres

and more...

Groups with whom we interact include:

National, Provincial, Local Government

CSIR

ARC

Industry – Dimension Data, 

Tourism

Consulting Ecologists – Environmental Impact Assessments etc.

NGOS – WWF, TMF, SANCCOB, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

IUCN

Museums

Municipalities

Military

Denel

Africa Media

ESKOM

Mining companies

Construction & Engineering

Zoos

Schools

Nature reserves

Railways

Agriculture

Architects and engineers

Sustainable energy

and more…

My journey since 1983:

NBG (National Botanical Gardens)

Gardens

Horticulture

Botany

Tourism

Indigenous

BRI (Botanical Research Institute)

Botany

Taxonomy

Vegetation

Agriculture

Indigenous

NBI (amalgamation of NBG and BRI)

Plants

Indigenous

SANBI (further development of our statutory directives – South African National Biodiversity Institute)

All Biodiversity – terrestrial, marine, mammals, birds, reptiles, spiders, insects, bacteria, GMOs, aliens, invasives, ecosystems…

Office of the Chief Executive Officer

Biodiversity Research Portfolio Management

Climate change

Museums

Applied research

Knowledge, Policy & Network Management

Planning

Education

Conservation Management & Corporate Services

Human Resources 

Finance

Marketing & Communications

Information Technology

Conservation Gardens & Tourism

Gardens

Building & maintenance

My journey in practicing my career:

• Handyman most of my life.
• BSc
• Namib Desert (4 visits)
• BSc (Hons)
• Commercial horticulture research (one year)
• Medical biochemistry research (21 months)
• Teaching science, mathematics, computer studies, business economics in Middle School
• Plant chemical taxonomy
• Graduating with an MSc
• Herbarium and Education in Nelspruit (Lowveld National Botanical Garden)
• Tour guiding
• Stress ecology research
• Investigating potential impacts of Climate Change on plant species distributions
• IT manager
• Database developer
• Field research, travelling very widely in South Africa, and visiting parts of Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia
• Ecology
• Herbarium collections
• GIS work
• Programming (BASIC, VisualBasic, Avenue)
• Author/co author of scientific and popular articles and books

During this time, I was involved in Employment Equity (including interviewing and selecting several candidates for employment), Occupational Health and Safety (OHS rep as well as chair of the committee, First Aid), mentoring interns, and assisting people in the education, administration, gardens, and other departments with technological solutions.

I was never bored!

I am somewhat a ‘Jack of all trades, and a master of few’ (even although I am a Master of Science 😊)

I would say that your career can be as exciting as you choose to make it, no matter where you are, but I choose to make my career exciting in the beautiful setting of Biodiversity

Having botanical, zoological and ecology training and having an engineering way of thinking makes me more versatile in the Biodiversity setting

I have given a talk about enjoying your personal desert wherever you are, using examples of my time in the Namib and other desert areas.

While this relates to the inevitable depressing times of life, I think it is very relevant to your career choice

Months and months of nothing but months and months

Unless you get down to ‘smell the flowers’ you probably will not even see that they are there

Employee attraction and Retention

Employer of choice

Equal opportunity

Rigorous recruitment processes

Incentives above market rate

Benchmarking

Continuous Professional Development

Rewarding high performance

Conducive working environment

Human Capital Development – the greatest asset of an organisation is its human capital.

Whether you choose 

a biodiversity career in the biodiversity sector

another career in the biodiversity sector

a biodiversity career in another sector

another career in another sector

Being happy or unhappy is still your choice

Being environmentally conscious, responsible and friendly is also up to you.

I hope that you will choose

a biodiversity career in the biodiversity sector

another career in the biodiversity sector

a biodiversity career in another sector

another career in another sector – yes – I hope that you will choose a meaningful career!

Being happy

Being environmentally conscious, responsible and friendly

To enjoy our gardens, parks, mountains, our wonderful natural heritage…

One of the most important things that I can suggest is that anyone wanting to choose a career do a profile to determine your own talents, interests, type, temperament, and to see what might be suitable options for your own career. These are so easily available in this period of our history (just do a Google search such as 'career profile assessment', or 'types of temperaments and their characteristics'). It is always amazing how diverse the options can be for one person. For example, my profile points me to a variety of things ranging from engineering to accounting to physiotherapy to clergy to ...

I hope that you will choose – to be intentional in your life – to choose to be part of the solution and not part of the problem

Question time

Questions, then I’ll briefly conclude my talk.

Sharing time

Floor open for 

questions and 

sharing skills. 

Some of the interns may be more skilled in some things than I am, so that will be the greatest value – learning from a peer, teaching the ‘buddy system’. 

I may well learn some things from you that I have not known or used before.

Does anyone have a cool thing to share regarding recording, transcribing, georeferencing?

You are the person who is living your life – live it – enjoy it – be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue, have [righteous] dominion – make a difference – be leaven in the loaf, light to others, salt of the Earth...

Thanks for being here

Attendance register and photo

Questions

I enjoy sharing things – I hope you were not bored out of your wits…. 

25 August 2023 - about 8 months after posting this blog, I watched this video shared by Rob Whittaker about choosing careers. In this case, he is discussing working with the disability of Bipolar Disorder, but I fully agree with each of these considerations in choosing your career - with or without a disorder - letting a long-term view guide you. You may find unanticipated less-than-ideal things as you go, but near the end he shares counsel that he received from a friend that proved to be very valuable for him in filtering out many careers that were less suited to his character, strengths, weaknesses, passions, and needs.

10 JOB TIPS -- (Living With Bipolar Disorder) - or Living with Life!