Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 52 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

There Are No Guarantees

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. As we consume these nuggets of wisdom each day and apply the principles to our lives, we gain wisdom and understanding that transforms how we think and the choices we make.  This is Day 52 of our Trek, and today we are continuing on our trail and looking at how to handle life when there are no guarantees.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. When I look out my office windows on this beautiful sunny day and see all of the different types of trees that surround our home, it makes me think, 'What type of tree (or person) do I want to be?"

There are a few evergreens, poplars, hickory trees and several varieties of large maples and oak trees. Paula and I are too fugal (i.e. cheap) to actually buy additional trees, so we have nurtured several trees from saplings that spring up in the yard each year. Very few remain after the squirrels and the deer have their way with them. Through our experience, we know that the oak trees are the hardest to get established. They grow slowly, but yet they are the largest and strongest of trees on our property.

So, would you prefer to be a pine tree that grows fast with wood that is soft and has limited use or the mighty oak that take decades to grow but has wood that is nearly indestructible. Through the wisdom and insights that we gain each day on Wisdom-Trek, let us emulate the mighty oak trees that last for many generations.

On our Trek yesterday, we found ourselves trapped by a storm, much like the storms of life.  We could not very easily go back because our destination was ahead of us nor could we travel forward as the tail ahead was washed out by an unexpected flash flood that hit without notice. So, we were left with a choice to make - where do we go from here?

When we set out on our trail yesterday, we fully expected to reach our destination without any major difficulties, but unexpected events do happen. There are no guarantees in life, so we must do our best to plan and prepare for the unexpected. We may have avoided this situation by checking our weather a little closer, but popup summer storms are very difficult to predict, even with the best analysis.

The old idiom “The best laid plans of mice and men oft times go astray” is certainly true, but we should plan and prepare as best as possible.  Once we have prepared, then we need to be ready and accept the detours of life that will come up.  The better we plan and prepare, the less impact these diversions will have on us.

Fortunately, on this Trek, we planned ahead enough that all of our food was sealed in weather proof containers, and we brought along adequate tools. Although it will delay us some, we are able to gather sturdy limbs and build a crude bridge over the chasm ahead of us.  We have determined a suitable course of action that has provided a solution to our dilemma. We are now across the ravine and on our way again.The trail ahead is slippery and muddy with additional obstacles that were not expected, but we can be fairly certain that we will eventually arrive at our determined destination.

While there are no guarantees in life, we still need to be diligent in our planning and preparing on a daily basis. None of us have the guarantee of tomorrow, but we should all plan as if we will live forever but live as if we will die today.

As part of my meditation and devotional time this morning, I reread Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 verses 1-6. This passage covers the same topic as our Wisdom-Trek today.