18. The Make Time Challenge with Maria Eckersley
President Nelson invited us to make time for the Lord in our everyday lives. He said, "He will lead and guide you in your personal life if you will make time for Him in your life—each and every day." We all want those promised blessings, but with such busy lives, it sometimes feels overwhelming to make time. What if we don't have to do more or be more to make it happen? Our community is participating in a "make time" challenge, and this episode dives into how Kathryn and guest Maria Eckersley took this challenge, how they were able to make the simple changes work in their everyday schedules, and what they learned in the process.
“The Lord is able to fill in what you thought you needed with something better.” — Maria Eckersley
The Make Time for the Divine Challenge:
Convert the commute: Commuting to work, driving carpool, or running errands can take up a good chunk of our time. Today for a few minutes of that time play your favorite hymn or gospel themed song.
Switch the scroll: We often find ourselves spending time on your phone daily (or hourly?), scrolling. Try stopping the scroll and switching over to the gospel library for 2 minutes.
First things first: Let's put God first today, literally. Let's kneel before we stand! Before we tackle our day, let's start with a prayer.
Phone a friend: We believe in Christ! Let's say so! Make a call or send a text sharing a slice of testimony or mentioning how Christ has shown up in life lately.
Claim the joy! As we get ready for bed tonight, let's grab a journal or the notes app on our phone and take 2 minutes to write down how we have seen God and Christ in our lives this week. What has felt different?
Links:
Transcript +
Kathryn Davis 0:00
Do you remember the invitation from President Nelson to make time for the Lord in our lives each and every day? Well, what if that means we don't have to do more or be more in order to make that happen? Hi, and welcome to magnify and LDS Living podcast where we cheer, inspire and embolden each other as women and followers of Jesus Christ, we hope to use our influence to make a difference in the world. I'm your host, Catherine Davis, a mom, a seminary teacher, and a big football fan, who loves God. This week, we're doing something kind of fun, and we want to invite you to join us. We're calling it our make time challenge. And here's the thing. We want to try taking the things we are already putting our time attention and energy towards and redirect them to fight in divine focus. I took the challenge last week, along with today's guests, Maria Eckersley, and we can't wait to share what we learned. But before we do, I want to introduce you to Maria. She is known for sharing mom hacks and gospel inspired messages that make home and family life simpler. So Maria, I'm so glad you're here today. Thank you. It's good to be here. And I am so excited to ask you a couple more questions. And it is become a tradition on magnify that we start each interview with some rapid fire questions.
Maria Eckersley 1:21
So you're ready. I'm so ready for this. But not really. So.
Kathryn Davis 1:25
No, you are you are. Okay. You are a self described mega Party Platter.
Maria Eckersley 1:31
That's true.
Kathryn Davis 1:32
I think that's why we're friends. Oh, are you making party? I am a mega party planner.
Maria Eckersley 1:36
Yeah, we should do it together.
Kathryn Davis 1:37
We should. Actually, let's come up with what? So what is your favorite kind of party to plan?
Maria Eckersley 1:43
Oh, by far my favorite is our Halloween parties. Have you heard about our Halloween party? Oh, wow. Okay, we do this thing. We've done it for like 20 years. It's called the wonder which adventure race. It's basically like, an amazing race. So happens all over the city. And like we invite a whole bunch of couples. Although lately I've done girls night only. So now it's all girls like come and we put them on teams, and they race around the city and try and find clues. And it's it's a crazy amount of work. But it's
Kathryn Davis 2:07
okay, that's so fun.
Maria Eckersley 2:08
Yeah, it is. It's fantastic. You should come. I will tell you all about you. Okay.
Kathryn Davis 2:12
Is this where your love of disco balls comes from?
Maria Eckersley 2:16
No, that comes from my kids, primarily, my job of disco balls is mostly about like, I never really want to have to clean before we have a celebration of any kind. So I've found if you have disco balls, then all the lights can turn off. And no one can see any of the mess anywhere. That's brilliant. So let's go on and then you just have like, clean path. Everyone assumes everything's clean when it's not. So that's where disco balls came from, like on those dark days where you're just like, we just need some happy and some fun, but I don't want to have to clean first. That's brilliant was my go to?
Kathryn Davis 2:45
Is that why you haven't in the car? Yeah, seems kind of reasonable.
Maria Eckersley 2:47
You just never know when you need to have like a little celebration. So you know, if you're driving your kids to school and you find out they have a spelling test, you can just like flip on a disco ball. You're like, you have this and then you pull up to their school and they're like, oh, you know, it's great. That's so good.
Kathryn Davis 3:00
You never know when you need it. Okay, next question. When I say you're a fun mom, I like really mean that.
Maria Eckersley 3:08
Maybe because you're not in my house all day.
Kathryn Davis 3:11
No, but you went skydiving with your 20 year old daughter. Yeah, that's a fun mom.
Maria Eckersley 3:17
It was an adventure. It was one of those like, we'd always wanted to do it. We always said we would do it. And then when we finally got the opportunity, we both looked at each other, like what are we doing here? But it was memorable. My whole brain is all about like, how can I make really good memories. And that was one that was one of them. I will never forget. So
Kathryn Davis 3:33
what would be the funnest day you could spend with your kids who I
Maria Eckersley 3:39
for me, it's always like doing something adventurous. But we don't get a lot of chances to do big event. Like I can't take my kid to Everest, I can't do some amazing things. So I have to find ways to like, have an adventure like the skydiving it's something you can do sort of local, but creates this big adventure in the moment. So I think you want to do something that's like specific to their passions, their interests, their talents, and then just something that they'll never do again like this out of the box
Kathryn Davis 4:02
Memory Maker, you're also kind of the queen of mom hacks and life hacks. And how do you come up with these? Do you just see really? isn't really? Or do you like see things like with this creative eye? Because you come up with things that I think how in the world. That's true.
Maria Eckersley 4:22
Did she think of that most of that I have to give credit to my son Jack. So I have my son who's 20 He's autistic. And so all growing up, his brain just works totally different than my brain. And so to be able to teach him or to help him or even communicate with him, I had to learn how to do everything different. I also had to learn how to do everything simpler because he just can't handle a lot of steps and he can't handle it's honestly I think that's where most of my mom hacks came from, from being Jack's mom. And then my husband Jason used to travel all the time. Like he was a consultant he would travel Monday to Saturday and so I was solo most of the time when we had like little little kids. So the mom hacks were seriously desperation. It was like I can't I How do I make this simpler? What can I do? Here's a pool noodle. So that's kind of where they come from.
Kathryn Davis 5:05
So I'm excited to talk this week about making time for Christ. President Nelson has invited us to make time for the Lord. He said, I plead with you today to counter the lore of the world by making time for the Lord in your life, each and every day. So as we are getting into this new year, we thought it would be fun to experiment with this as the Magnify community, we've created a five day challenge. And we don't want the word challenge to scare you guys, because it's much easier than a challenge, don't you think?
Maria Eckersley 5:37
Yeah, no, it was just kind of like doable challenges.
Kathryn Davis 5:41
I like that doable challenge. We've identified one simple action each day for five days and action that will remind you of the Savior, and all of them take less than two minutes. That's the beautiful artists love. Yeah. And like I said, Marie, and I took this challenge last week. So we're gonna walk you through what it's like and share our experiences with this challenge.
Maria Eckersley 6:03
How'd you do overall,
Kathryn Davis 6:04
I loved it. Like it was, like doable. I felt like I was intentionally making more time.
Maria Eckersley 6:11
That's good. I like the intentional part of it. I think that's what it felt for me to even though I sort of feel that some of them I felt like even just having the intention of doing it felt hopeful, you know, like, I thought I could do it. And that was hope filled for me. So yeah,
Kathryn Davis 6:25
like, that made me more intentional about some of the things that I do, because my life is really filled with scriptures. Yeah. I teach seminary all day. So I don't have a problem sometimes getting into the scriptures. But it's always for somebody else. Never for me. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. So this made me more intentional about my relationship
Maria Eckersley 6:46
with the Savior. That thought, Yeah, that's cool. So
Kathryn Davis 6:49
let's, let's kind of walk through what it looks like. First of all, though, I want to know, what does making time for the Lord mean to you? You know, I
Maria Eckersley 6:57
kind of wrestled with that phrase, I know, President Nelson said it. So I'm not trying to discount President Nelson. But I really don't think we can make time I, I've decided what you can do is you can sacrifice time, we have same amount of time every day, and we have a finite amount of time on this planet. And I think you can't make more. But what you can do is you can give it you can choose to make it sacred, like that's the root word of sacrifice, and sacred are the same. So like the idea of like, I think what President Nelson was saying is like, sacrifice some of what you have, make it to make it sacred, and then see what the Lord can do with it. You almost like the widow's mite, kind of feel like she didn't do that. And it's costing your coins, she's like, No, this is my sacrifice. It's what I can get. And even if it's small, like what we did all week, they're small. But that makes it sacred, which I think is lovely.
Kathryn Davis 7:41
And I love that thought, we've talked about this before that God saw the abundance of her offering, not how little it was,
Maria Eckersley 7:48
because there was an abundance now because he like has this glossy view of everything, right? It's because it was abundant for what she could give. And I just think that's what this kind of discipleship is all about. I love it.
Kathryn Davis 8:00
So let's kind of walk through day by day, day one and two, were some of the easiest ones for right. Day one is convert the commute. And Day Two was switched the scroll. So as we talked about day one, a lot of us do a lot of driving every day, whether that's to work or to carpools, or whatever that is, we're just in our car a lot. So that can take up a huge chunk of time. And the idea of this challenge was just to make a little more time in our commute, like take some of that time, whether we listen to him on the commute, or we listen to a conference talk, take some time to make it sacred, make it sacred. And for me, I actually had to kind of switch that a little bit because I listened to a lot of hymns and a lot of conference talks
Maria Eckersley 8:52
when I work, because we live them both. Both sounds good.
Kathryn Davis 8:55
Yeah. I love both. Like I listen to them on my runs. I listen to them on my way to work on your runs. conference talk. Oh,
Maria Eckersley 9:03
I'm like, wow, that would be hard camps.
Kathryn Davis 9:05
No. A conference, I will listen to one conference talk at the beginning of my run. Yeah. And then I have to get a little I didn't
Maria Eckersley 9:10
do that, too. Yeah, I don't run but like I hike. And so I'll listen to a devotional or construct when I go up the mountain. And then when I come back down, I just turn everything off and just listen, like just try and like keep in touch with the spirit about what I just heard.
Kathryn Davis 9:21
So that's what I did in the car this week. I just tuned everything out and use that time to communicate with Heavenly Father and I have found in my life, I don't take a lot of time to be still. And that's what I tried to use that time for was just to dedicate that time to my Heavenly Father to reflect and to feel and that has changed a lot for me this week. What did you do?
Maria Eckersley 9:49
Mine didn't go quite as lovely as that. Because I usually have kids in the car with me and it was a little trickier because I'm trying to walk this delicate balance of having more discipleship, but at the same time not being over the top with my kids because they're teenagers. So I was like, How can I make this doable? So the first day I put on the new soundtrack, the youth soundtrack? Oh, yeah. Because I hadn't heard it. So we go Cal distribute that, because I'm taking my kids out of high school. And not even kidding. Within 30 seconds, both of my boys take their beats out of their pocket. And like that I just kind of left it at the moment. I'm like, Well, I tried. But then I realized, like,
Kathryn Davis 10:26
no matter what I play, my kids do that.
Maria Eckersley 10:30
But I was like, at first I thought, Oh, I failed at that one. And then I realized, you know, when you think about the mothers of the stripling warriors, like I don't think in the moment when the mothers were teaching their sons, that they were probably super attentive, and that they, you know, listened to all her lessons. But in the moment, when they're in the battlefield, they remember their mother's words, right? And that's what gives them strength in that moment. So like, I think I should just trust in that, right? If I turned on a devotional, or if I turned on music that uplifts, even if they don't feel it in the moment, right, trust, the spirit can bring it back. At some point, they'll be like, actually, my mom does this thing. I think I might try it. You know, that's what I decided to rest on was, instead of feeling like, well, they put their headphones in, I just blew that. Instead, it was like, maybe that's just gonna like bloom later. You know? Like, maybe we just planted the seed that's gonna come way later.
Kathryn Davis 11:15
Don't you think a lot of what we do is just planting seeds. Yeah,
Maria Eckersley 11:18
I trust that that sort of thing.
Kathryn Davis 11:20
Yeah, I totally trust Yeah. And that God will make a boom. So then you can kind of be like, actually, that's pretty good day. Right. So did it change anything for you
Maria Eckersley 11:29
for my commute? Yeah, I think it just seemed kind of thing made me feel more intentional about it, where normally I would flip on NPR, I would flip on one of my podcasts, or I would, you know, whatever, or talk to them as they're going. But I think it made me more intentional about how I spend that time we live far from their school. So it's a good 20 minutes every time I pick them up and take them home. And so we have a lot of time. And I found myself thinking like I should use that time more intentionally. Even if it's not listening to something when I shut things off and just made it more like how can I talk to them about bigger things? How can I bring up something more meaningful than instead of just like, How was lunch today? And what do you do? That shifted into that for me over the course of a couple of days, and shifted from I'm going to listen to the youth theme songs to I'm going to ask better questions like I'm going to ask him more detailed questions about how their day went, what they learned in seminary, do you care about it? And you know, what was the hardest part of your day? My commute shifted, but not the way I thought it would? Was? It's actually pretty cool.
Kathryn Davis 12:21
But in the way that it sounds like it needed to? Yeah,
Maria Eckersley 12:24
I think so. I think that's what the Spirit does. Right? It kind of refines. Like, I just tried something and then the Spirit says, good try Maria, and then kind of nudges me this way. And then over the course of a few days of sticking with it, then you get an idea of what you were really supposed to do. I just think that's kind of the process.
Kathryn Davis 12:39
Because for me, my most important conversations with my kids has always been in the car.
Maria Eckersley 12:45
Yeah, because they're like a captive audience. Right. We can't get out. And I can't get out. So we have to kind of deal with our issues. And we have to Yeah, I think
Kathryn Davis 12:53
to be more intentional about that in the car. I just think that's powerful. Like that's something we're already doing. Yeah. And so let's maximize that time and make it meaningful and sacred. Right. And it doesn't have
Maria Eckersley 13:07
to be overly hate say this, but overly churchy in order to be sacred, you know, right. We don't have to force that it happens naturally, I think.
Kathryn Davis 13:14
Yeah, I think it's important to put the things you want to prioritize right in front of you. I know you do that often.
Maria Eckersley 13:21
Oh, yeah. My mom's Oh, no, I tell you about? Yes. I want you to tell me about that. Okay, this I started, I think it's been 15 years since I started this. Here's my dilemma. So I ran into a problem of I got six kids. And every time I would go to pray about my kids, I had to go through the whole list. And I felt like I never really prayed intently about any of them, I would just kind of make a quick little list. So Oh, bless Hannah with this, bless Jack with that. And then I realized I just needed to break that up a little bit. So what I did in the house is I created zones. So all the places I would go often would become a zone. So for example, I'm doing dishes in my kitchen all the time. That's where I am. So one of my zones is Hannah, and is the kitchen. So I have a little picture of Hannah. She's my oldest on the windowsill right above the sink. And anytime I'm doing dishes, I glanced at it and it reminds me Okay, pray about Hannah. And I don't pray about Jack and I don't pray about Emily and I don't pray about my calling. In those moments. I just think about Hannah. And it's not always like a, you know, really super reverent prayer. It's more like I just intentional. I'm thinking about her. I'm thinking Heavenly Father, they're things I need to do better. How can I help her? How could I lift her? And I'm telling you, Catherine, I've had some of the coolest spiritual experiences doing dishes and vacuuming because they're my mom's zones. And that's where I'm thinking. And I'm basically like, opening this window saying, pour in some guidance. Like I'm here. Help me. I've got to still get my stuff done. I'm young. I need to do the dishes. Yeah, but help me with this one kid. Oh, my gosh, it's been a powerful tool. And I've used it for 15 years. And it's been awesome. Yeah. And I don't know, every single day. I'm not perfect at it. Right. But I think he knows if I need to know something about Hannah to come find me at the kitchen sink because that's where I'm going to be thinking about her and worried about her and if he wants me also a bit about Jack will do when I have a broom in my hand because his is right next to where I keep my broom. So every time I grab a broom, I think about Jack Mike. Okay, I need for Jack and I've just got little zones. I've got a picture of Jason light in my car. Yeah, of cars, my marriage one. So I think my marriage should think about how are things going? Are they things I could do better with Jason, what are other things I could talk to him about? And I'm telling you just focusing on that one thing
Kathryn Davis 15:21
opens up revelation for me. And you're not adding more to your day? No, not at all, are adding more time. That's what I love about like, convert the commute, right. And if you want your car to be a place where you can think about heavenly Father or a child or a marriage, that's a powerful time to be able to convert the community. Yeah,
Maria Eckersley 15:40
one of my favorite talks, it was a BYU devotional from Kevin more than I love his talk. He's the BYU president. And he said, We should always try and stand in holy places. And if you can't do that, then make the places in which you stand holy. And I just feel like that's what you have to do as a parent or even just as a woman. I don't know what your day looks like whether your kids or not, yeah, you can make your workplace a holy place, you can make the gym a holy place because of what you choose to listen to, and how you interact with people. And so that's how I've decided to just embrace it. Like, I can't say it in holy places all the time. But I can make as many places in my day as possible,
Kathryn Davis 16:10
holy, holy, that's so good. Okay, So day two, was kind of similar in the sense that we wanted to be intentional about our everyday actions. We all spend a lot of time scrolling on our phones, social media, online shopping, grocery shopping, texting, whatever that is, right. So this challenge was really simple. We wanted to make a conscious effort to take a minute while scrolling to switch over to the gospel Library app to read through some scriptures or other spiritual messages before we started our scroll. Right? Were you able to do that
Maria Eckersley 16:48
little hidden Miss, I wasn't great. It wasn't great at this every day, because I didn't realize how often I pick up my phone, you know, because I had this intention of doing that. And my goal was, I thought, I'm just gonna open the gospel library up, you know, they have like a featured thing at the very top. Yeah, like a conference soccer Book of Mormon video or something. And there's like five of them. So I would swipe through, and I'd be like, I'll just see what the next one is. And I couldn't always read the whole conference talk. But I would like read a paragraph or something. But, but I realize, like, I ran out of those five things by 10 o'clock in the morning really fast, right? Because I'm picking up my phone all the time. So that was another one that had to adjust that goal for me, like I didn't fit in the every time I pick up my phone, I can look at the gospel Library app. So just adjust it. So here's, I kind of cheated.
Kathryn Davis 17:30
There's no such thing as cheating. So here's
Maria Eckersley 17:32
what I did. I decided I would associate power with power. So anytime I went to plug in my phone, like in my car, or plug in my phone at home, anytime I was connecting to power, I decided I needed some spiritual power. So that's when I would go to the gospel library. And I'm like, okay, power, I can do power, because you also present Nelson's been talking about as like Rollins give you power. So like, that's what I knew. So now I'm not kidding. Every time I set my phone on that little magnetic charger. I'm like, alright, I'll just say a quick prayer. Or I'll go to the gospel Library app, and I'll see a thing. I have all the power. Yeah, I have all those notifications set up. Do you have those on the gospel Library app, so you get a whole bunch of them throughout your day? So yeah, I'll just read whatever notification is less, gives me a little boost of power, while my phone is charging, and I feel better about myself. And then like, I got it. That's good. So I had to shift. How about you had your stuff
Kathryn Davis 18:16
mine? I'm not on my phone a ton, because I'm in class all day. But when I'm not in class, and at home, sometimes I will quickly scroll or whatever. And I just noticed that as I would switch to the gospel Library app, like I said before, this is where I felt like it was for me. Yeah, like I could read something that was for me not to necessarily teach.
Maria Eckersley 18:38
Yeah, that's cool. Right, like, fill you up a little bit to fill me
Kathryn Davis 18:42
up. And and I switched over. And I was surprised at how much of the scriptures I have been able to get through. Oh, that's what I mean. Like how much I read more than more than the Assign
Maria Eckersley 18:55
like what you're teaching seminary. Yeah. And
Kathryn Davis 18:58
cross reference and read a talk. You know what I mean, I just found I was spending more time for my relationship, rather than a child's or anybody else's. And I felt like Heavenly Father was able to fill me up more. Yeah,
Maria Eckersley 19:16
let me sense totally makes sense. I think that's what I love about the spirit is I feel like when you when you make that sacrifice of your time, even those little scroll minutes, you feel like what he says is, I can either make the time you're giving bigger, you know, I can actually make that more. Or I can take the hole that you carved out because you have to carve out time from something else in order to go to the gospel library. Yes, I can fill that hole in a whole different way. Whereas before I thought, I'm going to need to go to my phone for comfort or sometimes even for numbing. Like sometimes they just want to check out or right. You know, I feel like when you shift your mindset to be like, I need this to be some kind of discipleship time. He finds a way to fill that gap. Because I don't find myself anxious to get back to Instagram or to whatever it was. They're like, you don't feel the void anymore. I don't know how to explain that. Do you know what I mean? Yes, I totally get that there's something about he's able to kind of fill in what you thought you needed was something better. So I love that piece of
Kathryn Davis 20:07
it. I do. I love that. And just that little effort of switching the scroll. Yeah. Whether that's when you plug in your phone or when you pick up your phone. Yeah, yeah. Even if it's just one time in the
Maria Eckersley 20:17
day of 500 times you pick up your phone, like, I think he's still sacrifice think you have to own that, like, I'm trying Heavenly Father, I'm trying and he'll say, great job. You know, like, I think that's his nature.
Kathryn Davis 20:28
Right? So and I'm gonna bless you with abundance, because you're trying because
Maria Eckersley 20:33
you're trying anything because you do it crazy, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so day
Kathryn Davis 20:36
three. Okay, this was first things first. Sometimes, this very simple principle is one we forget. And that's to start off our days with a prayer. Yeah, right. I really liked this day. Because it's putting God very first before anything else we have to tackle the day. And sometimes that can be a little harder for me, because I get up early. And I think, Oh, I've got to hurry and exercise and then get to work. And then right, I get up early. And so I miss, sometimes, the kneeling, and I'm always trying to beat
Maria Eckersley 21:13
the clock, or if you feel like that, but I'm always got this tiny window of time to get ready and to hurry and get scripture study early in the morning. And so my job is to like, get up and get real, it's up. And of course, it's like I often invest to do this challenge. I had to kneel in my bathroom because I missed it in the morning. And I'm like, it's still morning, and it doesn't matter. Just kneel down and pray. So literally, in my bathroom in the bathroom, I kneel down on the rug. And I said my morning prayer and like, you know, I didn't do it perfect, but I got it in. So I think that's the goal.
Kathryn Davis 21:42
I think that isn't a goal. Did you experience anything with that? Was it just that like the mind switch of, hey, I have invited him into my day,
Maria Eckersley 21:51
I think I'm the one that sets up these pretend impressions about what they're supposed to look like, you know, I'm the one that thinks, oh, if I was a really good mom, or a really good wife, or really good disciple, I would kneel at my bed as soon as I got out of bed, and I would have this heartfelt prayer. I'm the one that creates all those perceptions. Yes, only example in the New Testament, and in the Old Testament is a short, simple prayer that leads for help, and is grateful for all the blessing if they're short. And so I'm like, Why do I make myself think that in order to be better, I have to make it more. So it was short, I see some cool things like we have family prayer pretty consistently, probably more consistently than I do morning personal prayer, because we have a scripture study, right? But one of the things I've loved is we have this thing where if you're going to if you're the called on to say the prayer, we ask the person who's gonna say the prayer has to say, Does anybody need anything, you know, kind of the same way? Like if you're going to a priesthood blessing, you might the priesthood holder might say, Do you need anything specific? Is there something you're worried about? Yeah. And that happens with our family prayers. So like, just this morning, Violet, where it's your facility, and she's like, she called on to the prayer and she says, Okay, does anybody need anything? And so then I could say things like, I'm going to be on a podcast. Little violet, who's nine? You know, since a prayer, it's like, please post mom on her podcast, and please, please, Daddy has energy. And what's great about that is that kind of intentional prayer. Then she like, asks, later in the day, how's your podcast go? And if I say it went great, then she'll be like, I know. Cuz I prayed for that. You know, it's just, anyway, those kind of little add ons to our prayer, whether it's personal or family have made a big difference for you. And your family. You just feel more connected
Kathryn Davis 23:24
that way, I think. And actually, we said a prayer before we started recording this podcast and something you said in the prayer, I thought, I'm going to pray for every morning. What do you know, that you said that the spirit would be the spirit would be with us? And I thought, I want a heaping load of the spirit. Yeah.
Maria Eckersley 23:45
You know what I picture every time I ask for any kind of blessing. Yeah, I picked you the boat full of fish. Like he is not someone who gives a couple fish. He likes to give a boat load. Like if you are willing to make a sacrifice. And sometimes the sacrifices are big. We're talking about real ones this week. But yeah, sometimes they're a lot. And I really think there's a reason the windows of heaven are like bulging because they have these heaping blessings. And so when I asked for blessings and prayers, I asked for abundance. Like, I want to keep going
Kathryn Davis 24:12
go slow. Do you think that's kind of what this challenge is? They can be little, they don't have to be huge. Sometimes they are. But it's those little things where we can see the heaping blessings. Yeah,
Maria Eckersley 24:26
it's the loaves and fishes. Right? Yeah, like find my scroll. And that's basically the to fish and I called bread loaves, he can be 5000 people with that. And I think any female disciple of Christ knows that where your time is so limited, and you're so strapped, and you say, I can give this much and he's like, great, I can work with that. And then you see this little amount that you give turned into so much more than you could have ever made it. He wants you to see miracles. And that's what those are.
Kathryn Davis 24:51
And I think we can see those miracles when we do that day three challenge. Yeah. When we pray and ask for them. It doesn't have to be long, right? But I think it helps us see those miracles and those blessings come.
Maria Eckersley 25:03
Yeah, just because I think you're aware, you know, like, that's what this challenge did for me is it kind of made me conscious of it. You people experience miracles with people who have eyes to see them. So I feel like, if you're looking for it already, you're gonna see it, you'll see it.
Kathryn Davis 25:14
Okay, so day four, okay. This one was phone a friend, and I actually thought of phoning you many times. I love talking with people. I am a people person. I love to talk. I'd love to hear their stories. I just love it. It kind of fills me a little bit. So this fourth day for this challenge was to phone a friend and share even just a little slice of a testimony or something you had learned or something you had felt. How did this one go for you?
Maria Eckersley 25:46
I shouldn't say full disclosure. I'm terrible.
Kathryn Davis 25:50
Can you text?
Maria Eckersley 25:52
what I ended up going out to dinner. This is what we did instead. Oh, my God, what a really think we're seeking his personal connection, like find a way to bridge that gap. But I hate phone conversations. I just don't like talking on the phone. For some reason. It's my brain is always thinking of like the 100 things I need to get done instead. Yeah. And so I'm like, Well, what I need to do is force myself to actually have a connection. So I went out to dinner. Jason, I went to dinner with my parents this week. And we talked gospel. I mean, we had delightful everything conversation, but we fit that in I don't know, I find myself so grateful that I have people I can go out to dinner with and I can have that kind of conversation. I don't know if you felt that way with your phone calls where I was like, yeah, how great is it that the Lord has blessed us with so many people that want to hear that piece of our life, you know, that wants to hear what I'm doing with my calling. They want to know why I'm doing what I'm doing. Like, celebrate it with you. That's what I came away with. What
Kathryn Davis 26:38
about you? Well, I went into a friend's office at work to just kind of share something that I had felt and experienced. And what I came away with was so much more than I even had to offer, because he added to it. Right? And he shared something in return. That was exactly what like my heart needed. And that's what I found is if I can share a little bit, I always get more in return. Somehow we forget that why do I forget that so much. Oh, well, I totally agree. I've added and sometimes we think people don't need it. Yeah. Right. We look at somebody and they're like, Oh, they're so they're so busy, or they're so strong. And I'm sure they're really close to Yeah, in prayer and everything and we don't think they need it. And yeah, man, I needed it that day. Oh, that's right. Yeah, it was perfect. Okay, day five, one of my favorite days.
Maria Eckersley 27:30
I was like, I crushed the five. Can I did you really well. I didn't know journal entries. But I'm like, I can celebrate joy. That is easy. To me. That's like, Yes, I can look back at my day. Okay, so
Kathryn Davis 27:40
this was claimed the joy. Yeah, this is the last day of the challenge. And we're asking us and everybody to reflect on what you might have seen this week as you strive to make more time for the Lord. So kind of reflect on some of the experiences that we've had and some of the joy that we've experienced and to claim it, right. It's true what President Nelson has said, as you make the continual strengthening of your testimony of Jesus Christ, your highest priority watch for miracles to happen in your life. And I think it's on that claiming that we can see the miracles. Yeah, right. And then George's
Maria Eckersley 28:16
flows out of that. Yeah. Because you think you feel seen, right? I feel like Heavenly Father makes you feel seen and heard and known. Because I was making notes in Evernote throughout the week as we were doing these masters when I used to take notes on my own. It was funny, I by the time I got to the end, and like you can see all the times revelation attacks sometimes I doubt my own ability receive revelation. I guess everybody does.
Kathryn Davis 28:37
I think everybody does. Yeah. Which is important to recognize, because I think everybody thinks nobody else doubts it. Right? Everyone's like, Oh, they're so solid. Ya know, I get
Maria Eckersley 28:48
in my head too much. And I think, Oh, well, I'm not having the kind of experiences other people are. But I realized that list I was making of all these little shifts, like little things I had seen that happen to the car or little things that had happened at dinner that those were all revelation, those were all times when the Lord was trying to help me know Hey, Maria, I love you. I see you, I want to help you. I'm sending all these chariots, you know, like the Elijah story where there's all these tears that he couldn't see the server. I felt like that's what that list became. I was like, look at all these things I've done to try and connect with you this week. And I only saw them because we were focused on them and like that. I mean, it's probably every week. I could have seen that and more if I was really folk
Kathryn Davis 29:26
if I was looking for him. Yeah, yeah, I actually think it's right here. I have a journal. I did. Not a good journal keeper. Her job is I am so bad at it. But I did with this. I kept like, little notes of things. This was just this week pages of where I saw God in my every day. Yeah, where I saw his hand. I think for me, it made me feel like he was aware of me more than I had thought before, and that he was aware of my struggles and my Family and those that I love where I saw his hand and their life as well. And just being able to document it. And sometimes I had to sit and think back. And then once I saw one thing I was able to see more.
Maria Eckersley 30:14
Yeah, almost like when one domino falls, then you get to see the next one for you.
Kathryn Davis 30:18
Yes, yeah. And then the next day, I thought, there it is, again, there's an answer. There's his hands. Yeah. And I think that was the power of it for me is because it's easy to go through our busy days and our schedules and think we're not connecting with Heavenly Father,
Maria Eckersley 30:37
when even for me with these kinds of challenge type. So I feel like this sometimes with like the world and other things. It's really easy for me to look back on my week and be like, I failed at that. And I feel that that yeah, you know what I mean?
Kathryn Davis 30:47
Yeah, because I couldn't see everyone. Really good. Yeah, yeah, we
Maria Eckersley 30:54
just tend to want to see our lack compared to somebody else's beautiful perfection. I think this last one was important for me because it was like claim the joy of meeting, don't even pay attention to where you dropped the ball. Look at whatever you accomplished and claim the joy almost pictured it. Like when they were like stake a claim and you like your flag in the hill or whatever. Yes. Like, that's what I'm doing like it my little hill is small. This this joy is small compared to maybe what it could have been had I been perfect. But like there's joy there in Brazil that says if you focus on the right things, you can feel it. Like you can feel joy despite all of your weaknesses and your failings. And if you stop thinking about the circumstances, and what got in the way, you just focus on Zapier and you can feel joy, that list became that for me, it was like staking a claim on joy.
Kathryn Davis 31:38
Even when he said like you can feel joy despite having a bad day or a bad month or a bad year. Yeah, you can Yes, stick a claim on that joy.
Maria Eckersley 31:47
I was just teaching it. While you're saying Institute I was just teaching my wife says last night we were talking about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And then you know how President Nelson said in that same talk. He's like, the joy that was set before the Savior focusing on us and what he could offer us, allowed him to make it through. And I think that's his example to us. He's like, if the Savior is able to endure the hardest thing that anyone has ever endured on this planet in all time, by focusing on joy by focusing on what he can give to others, then that strategy has to work for us, too. Right? It's the same principle. And I think it did, I think as well, as I thought back on my week, I was like, actually, no, this was a good week. It was a good week, I felt stronger, more empowered.
Kathryn Davis 32:25
I like that word empowered.
Maria Eckersley 32:27
I felt lifted. Oh, good,
Kathryn Davis 32:29
Nina. And I think this challenge this simple five day challenge is such a cool challenge. Because it's very approachable, and sustainable. President Nelson also said he will lead and guide you in your personal life, if you will make time for him in your life each and every day. And so making time intentional time for the Savior through this challenge. wasn't adding something to my plate, right? They were things I was mostly already doing. Or they just take less than two minutes a day.
Maria Eckersley 33:01
Right? Or for me, they have to kind of get crafted a little bit. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, I started with the if I had kept the idea of like, Oh, I've gotta listen to a devotional every day in my commute with my boys. I don't think it would have been successful for me. So I had to be willing to listen to the spirit to be like, Okay, this challenge started here. Now, where does the spirit want me to go next? It was a lot of morphing.
Kathryn Davis 33:19
Right. And for me, it was turning it off. Yeah. See? That's great. Because I don't have a lot of
Maria Eckersley 33:24
stillness. Yeah. And you need it.
Kathryn Davis 33:27
I need it. Yeah, yeah. Something that you said earlier, you called it approachable. discipleship.
Maria Eckersley 33:33
Yeah, that's my go to,
Kathryn Davis 33:35
like, What do you mean, when I
Maria Eckersley 33:36
heard this challenge when you guys were describing it? I mean, like, that's what it sounds like. To me. It sounds. And honestly, there probably is no other kind of discipleship. I think everything the Savior asked us to do is approachable. It's all doable, because you have a whole lifetime to work this out. Right? Right. And he just wants you to kind of get closer. I think he wants you to continually be seeking to put off the natural man and come a little bit closer. And so it's all supposed to be approachable. But I liked this idea of like, How can I sacrifice this little amount and then rejoice in the abundance that comes from it? I give up two minutes of my commute to listen to something and then I get this abundance of a better conversation with my son and he feels more connected to me. That's so much more than I deserve, given what I put in. It's his character to give like that, I
Kathryn Davis 34:19
think I believe that I believe that little changes and little efforts can bring an abundance of blessings. Yeah. And that's what I think happened for me this week.
Maria Eckersley 34:29
What was your best day? Do you feel like like, was there one that you thought of all the fibers of the one I would keep the longest like I would keep going in? There was one of those challenges? Yeah, the one that you're like, Oh, I'm doing this always
Kathryn Davis 34:39
eating out for me. It was convert the commute. Honestly, that to me. That one felt good.
Maria Eckersley 34:47
Mine was the morning prayer when I'm like, this needs to be better part of my day. I have missed it too much. But I could tell there was a difference. That's cool.
Kathryn Davis 34:54
Really, you could tell what was the difference? I just felt like
Maria Eckersley 34:57
I had started off the day. It wasn't even so much that I had some kind of revelatory experience. But I felt like I'd opened up a gateway of like, can we further I do want to hear from you today, or as most of the days, I'm kind of just I just rush right into my work. And I rush right into the family stuff. And I don't really make time to say like, Hey, I would love to hear from you. And I just think that's what that morning prayer is. It's a way to say, I would love to hear from you today. I'd love to see you today. Almost the same way. Like if you could think of a sweet text to send your mom or something, it would be that right? Like, I mean, that's what you wish you could send right? I would love to see you today. You know, like that. Nothing fancy, nothing elaborate, just like a sweet. I would love to see you. And I feel like that's what Heavenly Father, it's those simple tweet statements that say I want to see you today. I should do it better, because it was
Kathryn Davis 35:42
so good. It was so good. Yeah, Maria, we end every episode with a small and simple invitation, something that you can implement throughout the week. And we hope you will join us this week in the make the time challenge, you can join and get all the info at magnify the good.com forward slash make time or just by clicking the link in our episode notes below. And make sure you join us over on Instagram for conversation and giveaways and so much more all week long. We want to see what you do with the challenge this week. I love how we both had different experiences and morphed into what works for us and our life. So I really want to hear what others have experienced. Don't be fooled.
Maria Eckersley 36:27
Like I'm actually really excited about that. And see what people come up with. I can't wait to hear like what their experiences are
Kathryn Davis 36:32
right. And maybe there's not maybe I'm sure there's lessons for me. Yeah. And takeaways from what other people are experiencing. So share and tag at magnify community. And let's all do this together. Sounds fun, huh? I'm excited to even hear from you through the week. I want to continue
Maria Eckersley 36:52
well, I'll tag each other. We'll get this gone. We motivate each other. And it was so fun
Kathryn Davis 36:56
to have you here. Maria. You're such an example to me. I hope you goes right by caching. And to find more of Maria and her tips. Go check out her Instagram at mech mom life. And don't forget to join us over on Instagram at magnify community. And of course, subscribe and listen to the Magnify podcasts wherever you get your shows. Let's meet up again next week.