Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 37 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Wisdom from Ben Franklin - Part 5

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast.  This is Day 37 of our Trek, and in honor of Independence Day in the United States, Friday we started a 5-day series of episodes during which we are consulting one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, who was known for his wisdom and practical sage advice.  Today we are finishing up that series.

Today we are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio.  We are looking forward to being back at Home2 for about 12 days to work on some projects there before returning to The Big House in Mid-July for a little over three weeks.  We have a lot planned for the remainder of the summer, and my hope is that you are living life to the fullest also. Regardless of what you may have planned, make sure you plan to enjoy every moment. Life slips by all too quickly for us.

On our Trek today, we finish up our examination of the 85 practical tips written by Benjamin Franklin called The Way of Wealth. In order to keep our daily Wisdom-Trek near the 7 minute length, I have split up the remaining tips over the past two days, so this series is one day longer than expected.  I hope you don’t mind. I want to keep our daily wisdom nuggets short and digestible. So, let’s venture on our trail today as we examine steps 72-85.

When consumed regularly like nutritional supplements, these nuggets of truth and wisdom will enhance our bodies and minds. This will allow us to live in such a manner that we will be creating a living legacy each day.

Lying rides upon debt’s back. – As we think about our hiking analogy, debt becomes our heavy backpack. But, instead of the backpack being filled with the essential gear needed to make our Trek both safe and enjoyable, it is filled with useless items and rocks that weigh us down, providing little benefit. We then have to lie to ourselves and others to justify the burdensome life that we have chosen when we decide to borrow needlessly.

‘Tis hard for an empty bag to stand upright. – If your life is an empty shell without value and substance, then it is difficult to stand strong when the winds of life blow. We need to have a strong internal compass, a moral code and values that we live by. We must have integrity and never compromise it. Proverbs 10:9 reminds, "People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed."

Creditors have better memories than debtors. – If you borrow money, never lie to yourself that you won’t have to pay it back or that your loan somehow will be forgiven. Although we may conveniently forget, those that loan the money to us will not.

The borrower is a slave to the lender, and the debtor to the creditor. – Now old Ben took this one straight from the Bible. Any time you put yourself into subjection of another person or organization for any purpose, you voluntarily become their slave or bond servant. To my knowledge, no one can ever be forced to borrow money. You may feel you have no choice, but that is one of the lies that we tell ourselves. We may choose to borrow, or we can choose to radically change our lives to a new paradigm and not borrow the money.  Proverbs 22:7 indicates, "Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender."

Disdain the chain, preserve your freedom, and maintain your independency. Be industrious and free; be frugal and free. – Debt becomes a chain that binds so that we are no longer free. There is no alternative.

Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue. – Poverty is often more a mindset than a reality. You can have very little as far as material means,