Wisdom-Trek © - Archive 2

Hello, my friend, and welcome to Wisdom-Trek! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your Guide to Wisdom and Creating a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 596 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday along life’s trails, we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs. Today we will explore Proverbs 7 from The Voice Translation, which will give us a fresh perspective on this book of timeless wisdom.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Spring is now in full swing with its showers, flowers, trees nearly full of leaves, and temperatures moderating to a pleasant range. It seems like each new day brings new life. The red-shouldered hawks that have their nest outside our 2nd story office windows are busy all day bringing fresh food back to their newly born chicks.

Just as spring is a flurry of activities with changes that are evident on a daily basis, so are our lives changing to a “new normal.” As mentioned during a couple of daily treks last week, Hazel our 2.5-year-old granddaughter has been diagnosed with leukemia. In addition to the emotionally difficult trek that this news has brought to our lives, we also take on additional responsibilities and tasks to assist during this long trail that is now before us. We are assisting with the transport of Hazel’s two older brothers to school and back on most days. We have also adopted two of Nat & Elizabeth’s dogs so that they can focus on Hazel’s treatment and ultimate recovery.

Hazel is responding well to the chemo treatments, and the physicians are pleased with the early results. For the next 2-3 months, Hazel will have weekly chemo treatments in Columbus on Monday’s and also have blood drawn locally on Wednesday and Friday’s to monitor the results. After this stage, the treatments fall back to monthly for the duration of about two years. As Hazel’s father Nat expressed in this week’s blog, we are humbled and grateful for the outpouring of help and resources that are being provided as Hazel’s tribe of prayer warriors and supporters grow each day around the world. We would ask you to pray for Hazel and her family, and also for us as grandparents that we would have the wisdom, insight, and understanding to make prudent choices and are able to help wherever it is needed.

As we explore Proverbs 7 today, we see a passionate plea from King Solomon to his son that he may obtain wisdom…

This is the tenth and final speech the father delivers to his son, and it’s the most passionate of them all. The father is on his hands and knees begging his son to live by wisdom (and escape the snare of the adulteress) no matter the effort required. Look at the action words used in verses 1-5. All of these require extreme energy and devotion: “guard,” “treasure,” “bind,” “meditate,” “engrave,” “say,” “recognize.”

We don’t typically find narratives in the Book of Proverbs, but in verses 6-20 the father uses a story to drive home his point. He tells his son a dark tale of a naïve young man who gets sucked into the clutches of the adulteress. The woman’s speech (verses 14-20) drips with allurement as she “grabs him shamelessly.” She makes promises of a “perfumed bed” and “colored linens.” The youngster lets the adulteress inflate his ego, he lets his guard down, and in verse 22 he gives in to her seduction. The father likens him to a bull, a deer, and a bird, as these are three animals subject to complete domination.

This intense narrative stops abruptly at verse 23, as the father turns to all his sons and makes this final plea (24-27), “Listen to me and pay attention,” he says, “Avoid that woman!”The house of the adulteress is a tomb in disguise, or as he puts it, it is “a gateway to the grave, leading down to death’s dark chamber.”

This story is intended to speak to more than just our intellect; it also calls upon our imagination and echoes in our heart. The father seeks to make a lasting impact. Pay attention to its overall effect on you.

Listen up now and pay attention as I share with you Proverbs Chapter 7.

1 My son, live according to what I am telling you;

6 One day I was at the window of my house,

10 I saw her! A woman came out to meet him.

14  It was my turn to offer a peace offering,

21 It worked! She enticed him with seductive words,

24 This is why it is so important that you listen to me, my sons,

 That will conclude our exploration of Proverbs 7. Oh, how the mighty, and I might add naïve man and woman have fallen when making unwise relationship choices. Next week we will continue with Chapter 8, and each week we will explore a full chapter in Proverbs. I hope that you will join us each week so that you can gain wisdom, insight, and understanding for yourself.

All of the Proverbs provide us with rich wisdom, insight, and understanding on a myriad of life issues. Regardless of where you are in your faith walk, if the precepts in Proverbs are followed, your life will be rich and satisfying. I encourage you to take them and plant the seeds of wisdom in your heart so that you will reap a harvest of wisdom throughout your life.

Tomorrow we will hike another short trail of Wisdom Unplugged where we will discover an inspirational wisdom quote. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes and Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 595 of our trek, and it is time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Today’s quote is from James Allen who said, “The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”

A person who is truly wise will also be a person who displays calmness in the midst of stress and hardships. A wise person realizes that if they allow themselves to lose control of their emotions, then they will make foolish decisions, take foolish actions, and say foolish and hurtful words to others, including those that they love. A wise person will not allow external circumstances to control their mind, which controls his actions. A wise person who remains calm in every situation is certainly a beautiful treasure in a world filled with hate and violence. There are so many verses in Proverbs that teach us these principles. Here are a few that I have chosen.

Proverbs 12:16 – A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted.

Proverbs 14:17 – Short-tempered people do foolish things, and schemers are hated.

Proverbs 15:1 – A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.

Proverbs 17:27 – A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered.

Ecclesiastes 7:9 – Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool.

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged. If you enjoy these quotes, I have created and published a searchable database of over 10,000 quotes that I have collected for many years. If you would like free access to my database of inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com.

As you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, please encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes and Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow for Wisdom Wednesday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 594 of our trek and Motivation Monday. We are hiking a series of trails called The Tools in Gramps’ Backpack.

Each Monday for a total of 20 weeks we will explore a different tool that is needed to motivate and equip parents and grandparents to train their children and grandchildren to be successful on their trek of life. If you don’t have children or grandchildren of your own, use these tools to train others that you do influence. Today the 17th tool from Gramps’ Backpack is Love. 

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. The previous tool that we explored was renewal, and the importance it is for each of our lives. With the diagnosis of leukemia in our granddaughter Hazel just over two weeks ago, there has been little time for practicing renewal in our lives.

Quite the contrary, the investment of time necessary surrounding this cataclysmic life change has required that we add many new duties to an already busy schedule. While these two weeks have exhausted us both physically and emotionally, it certainly has been a time for reflection on what is truly important.

Since we do have a long road ahead of us, it will be more important than ever that we invest adequate time in renewal also. As I have reflected on Hazel’s illness I realized that I would do anything I could to take her illness and treatment on me, so she would not have to. I would do this because of my love for Hazel and my desire for her not to go through this time of suffering. Unfortunately, this is not possible. This brings to mind the fact that because of His love for us, Christ gave up his life and suffered hell for us so that we would not have to.

Romans 5:8-9, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.”

Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Unconditional love is the strongest form of love. It is so imperative that we love our children, grandchildren, and others that we impact with unconditional love, and lots of it. If they see this kind of love demonstrated in our lives, then they will learn to love others unconditionally. So the tool we will explore today is…

As we learn of God’s love for us and allow it to become part of the very fabric of our lives, we will start to understand and demonstrate that love to others. Ephesians 3:17-19 gives us a glimpse of the love God has for us, “Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

Love is what sums up the entire Old Testament laws. Christ’s words leave no room for interpretation. In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus tells us, “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

We are humans, though, and sometimes, despite our best intentions, we fall short. When we become embittered with ourselves, with our family, with our neighbors, and even with God, we disobey the two short commands that sum up the entire law. We disobey the One who gave His life for us.

If we are to be faithful to God’s precepts, we must filter out the negative feelings that separate us from others and from Him. 1 Corinthians 13 is considered the love chapter, and we are told that love is the foundation upon which all our relationships are to be built. Our relationship with others and our relationship with our Maker.

May we fill our hearts with love and filter out the bitterness, jealousy, and hatred that we harbor towards others. God’s desire us to emulate, exhibit, and then teach the love that is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

Love is not always giving in to others. For love to be true, it sometimes has to be velvet, and sometimes it has to be steel. Real love has staying power. Authentic love is tough love. It refuses to look for ways to run away. It always opts for working through whatever issues are causing strife. It is important to know that you have to work to keep love alive. You have to protect it and maintain it, just like you would a delicate flower.

With these thoughts in mind, we will conclude our trek for today and close Gramps’ backpack. Before I do, I will pass the tool of Love on to you. Once you have this tool in your backpack, it is up to you to learn what real unconditional love is. It is up to you to demonstrate that love to your children, grandchildren, and others that you mentor. It is up to you to also teach them this kind of unconditional love. When you love God and love others properly, it is then that you will realize and understand how to live the rich and satisfying life that is available to each of us.

Next Monday we will investigate the 18th tool in Gramps’ backpack, which is Character. On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes and Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 593 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.

Currently, we are on an extended multi-week trek as we explore the teachings from some of my virtual mentors, such as Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Earl Nightingale. The core of our current trek is based primarily on Jim Rohn’s book The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle. I have learned a considerable amount from reading and re-reading this book on my own trek of life, and I trust that it will benefit you also. Keeping with the continuity of Wisdom-Trek, I have adapted it to The Five Trails on Life’s Trek.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. It has been a beautiful spring week, and all of the trees are exploding with foliage. The large maples and oaks are a bit behind, but it won’t take too many days before they are also full of leaves.

Our granddaughter Hazel, whom I mentioned in Wednesday’s trek, is now home after her first 8 days of Chemo treatments for leukemia. Although it is always possible that the future treatment schedule will change based on her response, currently she will travel to Columbus every Monday for a Chemo treatment. On Wednesday & Friday of each week, she will have blood drawn locally to monitor the results. The weekly treatments will last 2-3 months depending on the results, and then it will move to a monthly treatment for the next 20+ months. We would appreciate your continued prayers for her healing and strength for the family.

Last Philosophy Friday I mentioned that we deal with the same challenges and fears that everyone deals with. This has certainly been true during the past couple of weeks as our lives have been dramatically impacted.

As we continue today on our 5th trail, which is the The Trail of Lifestyle, we will explore how our lifestyle is not automatic but is created by how we respond to the challenges of life, not by the fact that we do not have major challenges and fears. If we do not conquer those fears, they will become giants that can overwhelm and defeat us, minimizing our impact on our world. Victories over the challenges of life make up the lifestyle that we live.

If you have missed the past few Philosophy Friday treks, it would be good to go back and review them to get caught up on our progress so far. We have a lot of ground to cover today, so let’s break camp and begin the fifth trail of this extended trek as we cover…

As a reminder, our overall extended trek covers these five trails:

Lifestyle means designing ways to live uniquely. It is a skill to be mastered, not a condition to be pursued. Lifestyle is finding new ways to bring joy, pleasure, excitement, and substance into your life and into the lives of those you care for while you are working on your goals, not once you have achieved them. Obtaining more material abundance does not necessarily mean a rich and satisfying life.

You may dream of becoming wealthy, of having a beautiful home that is tended by others so that you will be free to enjoy yourself. You dream of inheriting a large amount of money or winning the lottery that will enable you to quit your job tomorrow and go off in pursuit of the good life. You dream of chauffeurs to drive you and servants to take care of you so that we can have all the time in the world to do whatever you want to do.

The big question is what would you do? In a very short time, most of what you dreamed of one day doing would become as uninspiring as your current lifestyle. There is only so much traveling, so much partying, so much sleeping, and so much “enjoying” that you can experience before this too would become tedious.

If it is not a life of endless fun and laughter that you are after, then what is it that you are in pursuit of? What is this thing you call lifestyle? Everyone has their own opinion of what lifestyle is, but hopefully, you will agree on what it is not. It is not something you get simply as a result of having more stuff. Lifestyle is a result of living more. The rich and satisfying life consists of: living more holy, living more fully, living more consciously, living more joyfully, and living more appreciatively. The more fully you live, the more you do and the more you become. Lifestyle is not a reward for all of our hard effort. It is a way of making your hard effort more rewarding, more meaningful, and ultimately more productive.

If you wish to be wealthy, you must study wealth. If you wish to be joyful, you must study how to fill your life with joy. If you wish to live a life of peace, you need to study how to be peaceful. So it is with any attribute that you wish to have as part of your life which creates the characteristic that we call lifestyle.

Most people do not make these traits a study. For instance, their plan for finding joy consists of going through the day with their fingers crossed, hoping that somehow, something will work out that will make them joyful. Joy is a chosen art, not an accident. It is not something that falls out of the sky. Joy, that unique emotion that you mistakenly believe comes to you only when you have become successful, must precede the achievement of success. Joy is as much a cause of success as it is a result of success, and you can begin to experience joy whenever you wish, regardless of your current circumstances.

True joy and success comes from following God’s precepts, well before we receive any material success in our lives. Proverbs 16:20 tells us, “Those who listen to instruction will prosper; those who trust the Lord will be joyful.”

Part of living a rich and satisfying lifestyle also includes treating others well as the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter in Galatians 5:15-18, “See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.  Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

We are deliberately taking our trek slowly on The Five Trails on Life’s Trek as we continue our hike today on the Trail of Lifestyle. Today we learned that lifestyle is not an automatic reward but must be studied and practiced.

Next Philosophy Friday we will continue on our fifth trail the Trail of Lifestyle, and we will explore how to be happy with what you have while you strive for what you desire. So join us next Friday for these additional insights. I know you will find these insights interesting and profitable in living a rich and satisfying life.

Our next trek is on Monday, and we will continue our series called The Tools in Gramps’ Backpack where we will equip you with the tools needed to impact the lives of others. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes and Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you on Monday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 592 of our trek, and it is time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Today quote is from Confucius who said, “The man of wisdom is never of two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid.”

To be wise is to have a single-mindedness of your purpose, mission, and vision for life. If you are compassionate, kind, and generous, then you will not worry about what others think or feel about you, because you will know instinctively that you are doing what is right. If you have courage, then there is no reason to be fearful because you know that you will persevere even through difficult times.

You cannot be double-minded and strong or successful at the same time. In fact, if you desire to be wise, one of the keys is to not have a divided loyalty. Anyone can gain wisdom by earnestly asking God to provide it, but we must be loyal to God to obtain wisdom. James, the half-brother of Jesus, tells us that God will freely give us wisdom if we ask Him. This is in his letter in James 1:5-8, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged quote. If you would like free access to my database of over 10,000 inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. As you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of our past treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes or Google play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow for Philosophy Friday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 591 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday along life’s trails, we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs. Today we will explore Proverbs 6 from The Voice Translation, which will give us a fresh perspective on this book of timeless wisdom.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. What a difference a week can make in our lives. I was scheduled to travel to Mesa, Arizona, last week to work on our construction project there. The day before I was to leave our lives changed forever.

A little over a week ago, Hazel, our 2 ½-year-old, red-headed, spunky grandchild who is so full of life was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. A week ago on Saturday, we found out that our sweet little Hazel was diagnosed with pre-b acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Of course, our hearts are broken, and it rocked our foundation to the very core. Since it was detected early, and she is young, the prognosis for recovery is good. But the thought of Hazel having to suffer through two years of chemo treatments is difficult to grasp and consider. It certainly will be a major change in our lives and especially in the lives of her parents Elizabeth and Nat Miller and Hazel’s three older siblings Paul, Gideon, and Aurora. It is hard to process, especially for one so young, but we are certain that God is in control of this situation as He is in all of our lives. We will be much more involved with Elizabeth, Nat, and the grandkid’s lives as we assist and we all adjust to a life that is no longer what our normal was.

Fortunately, Nat’s parents also live locally and are very involved with the grandkids. We would ask you to pray for Hazel and her tribe, and also for us as grandparents that we would have the wisdom, insight, and understanding to make prudent choices and be able to help wherever it is needed.

As we explore Proverbs 6 today, Solomon instructs us to be wise. Solomon puts it bluntly when he says…

Chapter 6 is the father’s ninth speech, and there’s a trove of wisdom gold in here. As you listen to it, look for words such as “snare,” “caught,” “hunter,” “fowler,” “robber,” “capture,” and “thief.” According to the father, there are four hunters out there looking to ambush your soul and rob it of the good life.

The father warns his son of the dangers of financial liability, even if it’s to help out a friend. Stepping into debt is like stepping into a trap. Don’t sign your name, he says. If you do, get yourself out of the situation with dogged persistence (“to the point of exhaustion”) and escape like a gazelle or a bird (two animals that exhibit swift speed).

Here the father tells the son that “poverty will come upon him like a robber” if he doesn’t learn to work hard. “Check out the ants!” he says, pointing out the diligent way these insects store provisions for their future. Solomon, as 1 Kings [4:33] indicates, was a skilled zoologist and drew many lessons from the world of animals.

In these verses, the topic switches from the “sluggard” to the “slanderer.” Both are deemed to be worthless people, but the latter receives the father’s harshest criticism. Verses 16-19 catalog a list of things that the Lord hates, culminating with someone who creates relational disharmony.

This last warning takes the form of a speech. Once again, we encounter the adulteress. This woman will hunt you down, the father says, and capture her prey with her eyelashes. Don’t be fooled, for there will only be pain from engaging with her. In other words, the father asks a rhetorical question, “Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?”

The uniting theme of this chapter is the father’s encouragement to maintain a healthy distance from these sly hunters. To give in to them is to forsake freedom and give way to calamity. What temptations are you prey to today? Surrender them to God with a humble heart and remember what the father said, “Correction and instruction are the way to life.”

Listen up now and pay attention as I share with you Proverbs 6.

1 My son, if you will risk your family’s future to put up collateral for the debts of an acquaintance, if you seal a commitment with a handshake to someone without first knowing the value of his word.

6 Take a lesson from the ant, you who love leisure and ease.

12 Someone who struts around taking advantage of unsuspecting souls

16 Take note, there are six things the Eternal hates; no, make it seven He abhors:

 20 So, my son, follow your father’s direction, and don’t forget what your mother taught you—

That will conclude our exploration of Proverbs 6. There is certainly a lot to ponder here. Next week we will continue with Chapter 7, and each week we will explore a full chapter in Proverbs. I hope that you will join us each week so that you can gain wisdom, insight, and understanding for yourself.

All of the Proverbs provide us with rich wisdom, insight, and understanding on a myriad of life issues. Regardless of where you are in your faith walk, if you follow the precepts in Proverbs, your life will be rich and satisfying. I encourage you to take them and plant the seeds of wisdom in your heart so that you will reap a harvest of wisdom throughout your life.

Tomorrow we will hike another short trail of Wisdom Unplugged where we will discover an inspirational wisdom quote. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes and Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is day 590 of our trek, and it is time for our 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget:

Today’s quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”

Miracles are around us every day. Unfortunately, we are usually too preoccupied and busy to notice them.

It takes wisdom to invest time to absorb a beautiful sunrise or sunset. It takes wisdom to understand the miracles of the seasons that come and go with unchanging regularity. It takes wisdom to enjoy the ebbs and flows of the oceans. It takes wisdom to appreciate the need for a balance of sun, rain, snow, clouds, and winds. It takes wisdom to realize that every beat of our heart and every breath that we take are a miracle that sustains our life for yet one more moment. It takes wisdom to acknowledge that all of these common things that we take for granted comes from a holy and loving God who is the creator of all things.

As Romans 1:19-20 tells us, “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged. If you enjoy these quotes, I have created and published a searchable database of over 10,000 quotes that I have collected for many years. If you would like free access to my database of inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com.

As you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, please encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of our past treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow for Wisdom Wednesday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 589 of our trek, and it is Motivation Monday. We are hiking a series of trails called The Tools in Gramps’ Backpack. Each Monday for a total of 20 weeks, we will explore a different tool that is needed to motivate and equip parents and grandparents to train their children and grandchildren to be successful on their trek of life. If you don’t have children or grandchildren of your own, use these tools to train others that you do influence. Today the 16th tool from Gramps’ Backpack is Renewal. 

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. When this trek is released, I should be back from a week in Arizona and have spoken at church yesterday. I do have to admit, while I love work and enjoy our life, there are times where I desperately need a time of rest and relaxation. I do not do this as often as I should, so it is something that I need to work towards.

Even the most driven and healthy parents and grandparents need a period of R&R and an infusion of God’s power. It is also imperative that we teach our children, grandchildren, and others that we mentor how to use the valuable tool of…

All of us, even if we are very strong in our faith, occasionally find ourselves running on empty. I know I fall prey to this. The demands of daily life and the stresses that we place on ourselves can drain us of our strength and rob us of the joy that is ours in Christ.

When we find ourselves tired, discouraged, and not wanting to carry on, it is time to stop, maybe even step back for a bit, and determine the source of our situation. As Christ followers, we can also draw strength from God’s Word and other Christians to help us recharge our spiritual batteries. God certainly knows our weaknesses and frailties and the Apostle Peter in his 1st letter 5:10 tells us, “In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.”

God does intend for us to live a rich and satisfying life. A joyous life filled with abundance and peace. Sometimes, though, joy and peace seem to elude us and feel far away.

When these times cast a shadow on us, and they will occasionally, the first step is to analyze if there are some lifestyle changes that need to be made. Are you involved in too many activities and just stretching yourself too thin? Are you getting adequate sleep, which means at least 6-8 hours on a regular basis? Are you eating healthy, whole foods, and avoiding too much sugar and other highly processed foods? Are you getting regular exercise to improve your strength and cardio?

With God’s strength, you can make the needed changes in the above list, but there is one other area that you cannot neglect. Especially when you are tired and troubled, turn your heart and mind to God in prayer. When you are weak, weary, and worried, make time to delve deeply into God’s Word and His precepts. Allow them to wash through your mind to purify and renew your thinking. When you still need additional strength, call upon fellow Christ followers to help you and support you. When you make these practices habits in your life, you will discover that the Creator of the universe stands with you and will strengthen you when your own strength is too little.

As Christ followers, we have a source of strength that others don’t have. Romans 12:2 instructs us, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

When the pace, the push, the noise, the crowds, and the constant activity are getting to you, it is time to stop the nonsense and find a place of solace to refresh your spirit. Jesus did this often as it says in Luke 5:16, “But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” Jesus still had much work that needed to be accomplished, as there will always be more for us to do. That did not stop Him from a time of renewal.

We can never teach our children, grandchildren, and others that we mentor how to effectively use the tool of renewal unless we know how to use it ourselves. So when you are overwhelmed, worn out, weary, and want to quit, remember the words of the prophet Isaiah [40:28]-31, which is the passage I use for my life verses.

Have you never heard?

With these thoughts in mind, we will conclude our trek for today and close Gramps’ backpack. Before I do, I will pass the tool of Renewal on to you. Once you have this tool in your backpack, it is up to you to learn the practice of regular renewal and teach it to your children, grandchildren, and others that you mentor. It is then that you will realize how to live the rich and satisfying life that is available to each of us.

Next Monday we will investigate the 17th tool in Gramps’ backpack, which is Love. On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes and Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 588 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.

Currently, we are on an extended multi-week trek as we explore the teachings from some of my virtual mentors such as Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Earl Nightingale. The core of our current trek is based primarily on Jim Rohn’s book The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle.  I have learned a considerable amount from reading and re-reading this book on my own trek of life, and I trust that it will benefit you also. Keeping with the continuity of Wisdom-Trek, I have adapted it to The Five Trails on Life’s Trek.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. When this trek is originally aired, I will be finishing up another week in Arizona working with our partners on the Mesa construction project. Hopefully, we will have prepared the budget and contract for Phase II of the project. Although Phase I extended out much longer and had cost overruns that we were not expecting, we hope that the experiences and lessons learned will allow Phase II to run much smoother and to be much more profitable.

I should get back to Marietta late Saturday, and then I have the privilege of speaking at Putnam Church again as our pastor will be on vacation this week. I will be speaking on Conquering Your Giants.

Although we do have a varied and interesting life, we deal with the same challenges and fears that everyone deals with. If we do not conquer them, those fears become giants that can overwhelm and defeat us, making our impact on our world minimized. Victories and defeats make up the lifestyle that we live.

As we continue on our extended trek today, we are hiking on our 5th trail which is The Trail of Lifestyle. Today we will explore what lifestyle is not, and also some elements of what makes up a balanced lifestyle. If you have missed the past few Philosophy Friday treks, it would be good to go back and review them to get caught up on our progress so far. We have a lot of ground to cover today, so let’s break camp and begin the fifth trail of this extended trek as we cover…

Culture is not an amount. Sophistication is not an amount. Neither is lifestyle. They are arts to be practiced by those who wish for more of a rich and satisfying life. To become the masters of these arts, the practice must begin with what you currently have.

Each of us, regardless of our circumstances, can begin the art of practiced sophistication any time we choose. For example, we are all familiar with the process of tipping those who provide us with service in a restaurant. Few of us know the origin and purpose of leaving a tip. The word “tip” is an abbreviation of the phrase “To Insure Promptness.” To insure promptness implies that the gratuity should be given before we receive the service, not after.

An example of the sophisticated approach to dining out is to take aside the person who will be serving us and present the tip in advance of the service we seek, not after. If this were practiced, the level of service would be well above average. To add to the uniqueness of the act, you might also combine some rather uncommon words with your unique gesture such as, “My guests tonight are very special and I want to give them the best possible experience. I would like for you to make sure that they are well taken care of, so here is something special for you.”

This brief moment of conversation combined with the small amount of money that would be required will work wonders. It will be especially effective if the words are spoken with sincerity and accentuated with a warm smile. That is what sophistication is all about – finding simple ways to live uniquely. Anyone can do it. It’s easy to do.

It is also easy not to do. It is easy to eat the meal, tolerate poor service, become angry, and ruin the special occasion by not doing the small but special things in an extraordinary way.

To obtain a good lifestyle is really nothing more than the art of doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. It isn’t getting up from the meal, and because of the poor service, tossing two-dollars on the table and glaring at the waiter on the way out the door. Imagine the effect that such unsophisticated conduct would have on those you had hoped to impress. It would convert a potentially memorable event into a nightmare, and all because of the missed opportunity of taking a brief moment – and investing a few extra dollars – to insure promptness.

You must learn to invest small sums in a tasteful manner before you can ever hope to master the art of handling major expenditures with sophistication.

Our lifestyle communicates a clear message about who we are and how we think. Lifestyle is where we go, what we do, and how we feel once we are there. Lifestyle is how we dress, what we drive, and the type of entertainment we choose to enjoy. Lifestyle is a mixture of substance as well as style, refinement as well as intellect, and emotional control in times of challenge as well as emotional release in times of joy and happiness.

Successful people and those in serious pursuit of success tend to communicate the level of sophistication and intelligence they have managed to acquire. How they conduct themselves leaves little doubt about their intensity for personal development and for personal achievement.

Everything about you is sending a message to others about your level of intensity as well. The things you do, the things you say, and even your appearance is suggestive of an inner attitude about life. If you are investing more money on donuts than you do on books, that suggests something about the sincerity of your desire for personal progress.

Whether you invest an evening with your spouse, reading a good book, in front of a computer or TV, playing with your children, or fellowshipping with good friends, lifestyle is a function of attitude and personal values. We can all afford to live a life that is rich and satisfying. It doesn’t take more money to change how you live. It takes more deliberate thought and a greater appreciation of the real values in life.

We are deliberately taking our trek slowly on The Five Trails on Life’s Trek as we continue our hike today on the Trail of Lifestyle. Today we learned that lifestyle is not an amount but a reflection of who and what we are. How is your lifestyle?

Next Philosophy Friday we will continue on our fifth trail, the Trail of Lifestyle as we learn that lifestyle is something that we must diligently work towards and not a reward for lack of results. So join us next Friday for these additional insights. I know you will find these insights interesting and profitable in living a rich and satisfying life.

Our next trek is on Monday, and we will continue our series called The Tools in Gramps’ Backpack where we will equip you with the tools needed to impact the lives of others. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes and Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you on Monday!

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 587 of our trek, and it is time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Today’s quote is from Charles Hodge who said, “The Gospel is so simple that simple children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches.”

The older that I get and the more that I study God’s Word, the more I realize that there is just so much about God that I will never fully understand. As Romans 11:32-35 tells us, “Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!  For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?  Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?”

Yet the message of God’s love is so simple that even children can understand it. The children’s song that many of us know encapsulates this well…“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” This is sufficient as Jesus told us in Matthew 18:2-4, “Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.'”

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged quote. If you would like free access to my database of over 10,000 inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. As you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of our past treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes or Google play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow for Philosophy Friday!