Wisdom-Trek ©

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 604 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Passion - The Tools in Gramps' Backpack

 

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 604 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 19th tool from Gramps’ Backpack is Passion.

 We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. This past weekend we were able to get outside with the chainsaw and continue our work on cutting up the trees that we had cut down several months ago. It will take another weekend or two to finish cutting it up, and we will wait until fall to split it. We certainly have a large pile of firewood that should last us for several winters.

We were also able to attend the first dance recital for our granddaughter Aurora and invest time with several family members this past week which is always a blessing.

As we continue to adjust to our schedule around Hazel’s leukemia treatments and the impact that this has on our family, which is in many ways positive, it gives us time for a pause to focus on what our true passions are in life.So the tool we will explore today is...

Passion

Are you passionate about the activities of your life, your loved ones, your work, and your Savior? As a Christ follower, who has been given the gift of eternal life through the sacrifice of Christ, we should be passionate about our service for Him through our lives. This service will incorporate all areas of our lives as we dedicate ourselves to impacting our world. We need to be passionate about our lives and teach this passion to our children, grandchildren, and others that we mentor.

The popular movie “The Passion of Christ” which was released a few years ago showed very vividly the love and passion that Christ has for us. Why did Christ endure the humiliation and torture of the cross? He did it for you. His love is as near as your next breath, as personal as your next thought, more essential than your next heartbeat. What should your response be to this passion that Christ has for you? You must accept His love, praise His name, and live a life that is worthy of His calling. You must conduct yourself in a manner that demonstrates to your children, grandchildren, and others that you impact that your acquaintance with the Master is not a passing fancy but that it is instead the cornerstone and the very bedrock of your life.

As a thoughtful Christ follower, you have every reason to be enthusiastic about all of life. I do realize that the realities of life do impact us. Sometimes the struggles of everyday living may leave you feeling exhausted and discouraged, especially if something has impacted you in a dramatic way. If your passion for life is slowly fading away, it is time to slow down, to rest, to recount your blessings, to have an attitude of gratitude, to worship, and to pray.When you allow Christ to reign over your heart, when you worship Him with words, thoughts, prayers, and deeds, your life can become rich and satisfying. This may be a gradual process as we follow the exhortation found in 2 Peter 1:3-9,

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 603 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Let Life Touch You

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 603 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday we 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 called 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. Our family of hawks is extremely busy feeding their young chicks. They are quite vocal as they seek out and deliver fresh nourishment for their chicks and themselves. Although we have not seen the chicks yet, there are usually two born each year.

As we continue to make adjustments to our schedule and life adjustments surrounding Hazel’s leukemia treatments and their effects, we are starting to adapt to a much different, but more consistent schedule.

As we continue today on our 5th trail, which is the The Trail of Lifestyle, we desire to explore how we can allow life, even with its hardships and troubles, to touch us in such a way that it actually changes us. As life impacts us in meaningful ways, we need to allow it to flow through us to the lives that we impact.

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:

The Five Trails on Life’s Trek – Lifestyle Part (5)

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

Philosophy

Attitude

Activity

Results

Lifestyle

Let Life Touch You

There is a world of difference between visiting a foreign country and actually living among its people and experiencing that country. Visiting is a basic physical activity; experiencing is a rich emotional event.

To experience life, you must let it touch you. Not just the positive experiences, but you must also be touched by the sorrows and the sadness, by the losses and the longings. Emotions enrich your life and create for you a special uniqueness regarding both who you are and how you live.

To live a unique life, you must first become unique as an individual by experiencing a broad range of human experiences and emotions. Only when you have experienced the full spectrum of human existence can you begin to design and live a life of substance, a rich and satisfying life.

All progress begins with emotion. You do not attract a better life merely by wanting it; you attract it by adopting the emotions that a “better life” requires. But keep in mind that a better life for another person may not be the same as it would be for you.

If you want to be full of joy and happiness, you begin by thinking, feeling, and acting in a joyful manner, which results in happiness. If you want to be wealthy, you begin by thinking, feeling, and acting “wealthy,” which may require some disciplined actions on your part.

You can capture the attention and the appreciation of y...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 602 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Search for Wisdom – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is day 602 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 Siddha Param who said, "The search for wisdom is a great challenge; to act on wisdom is an even greater challenge."Gaining wisdom seems to be an ever elusive challenge. I believe most people desire to be wise, but they are unwilling to face what is required to gain wisdom and become wise. Wisdom has to be a passion that we seek for more fervently than our desire for monetary gain. In Proverbs 8, Lady Wisdom encourages us to, "Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it."There is also a fine line between having wisdom intellectually and actually putting that wisdom into action on a daily basis in the decisions and choices that we make.  Proverbs 13:16  tells us, "Wise people think before they act; fools don’t—and even brag about their foolishness." So a truly wise person has both a head knowledge of wisdom and they also put that wisdom into practice each day in their decisions and choices.

Gaining wisdom does take desire, effort, discipline, and a faith in God that does not waver. In addition to desiring wisdom more than riches, James 1:5-8 shows us the formula for gaining wisdom, "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:

Live Abundantly (Fully)

Love Unconditionally

Listen Intentionally

Learn Continuously

Lend to others Generously

Lead with Integrity

Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

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!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 601 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Sharing God's Wisdom - Proverbs 8

 

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 601 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 8 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. It has been an unusually cool spring for Southeast Ohio so far which is somewhat surprising since we had such a mild winter. The flowers are slow coming out, and the grass is also growing. o there is plenty of outdoor work to be completed as we have the opportunity.

Our granddaughter Hazel is responding well to the chemo treatments for leukemia, and the physicians are pleased with her early results. Next Monday, she will have more extensive treatment and testing to hone in on her progress to determine if the current course of treatments is producing the desired 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 a weekly basis to monitor the results. The high levels of steroids and chemo are causing her to swell up significantly, and she is losing her precious red hair.

While we realize that these are just outward temporary manifestations of the life-saving treatments that she must go through, it is difficult for all of us to see her suffer through the treatments. 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 8 today, we learn from Lady Wisdom the art of…

Sharing God’s Wisdom

· 3rd Speech from Lady Wisdom

In stark contrast to Chapter 7’s tale of evil seduction, Chapter 8 includes a beautiful poem from Lady Wisdom to the reader. While both women seek companions, they could not be more different. As the adulteress speaks from the shadows, so does Lady Wisdom from “the highest places in the city” (verse 2); the evil woman uses deceptive words, but Wisdom “speaks of unparalleled excellence and beauty”(verse 6). This contrast serves to heighten our disgust for the one and our admiration of the other.

In verses 1-3, Lady Wisdom is introduced. For the remainder of the chapter, she speaks eloquently about what she has to offer. Her monolog, however, does not take place before a captive audience. Rather, she walks the cobblestone road of life, calling out to those who have the courage to listen.

Lady Wisdom’s poetic discourse is full of feeling and force. You can’t help but fall under its sway. It is rhythmic, impassioned, and persuasive. In verses 4-21 she urges her reader to listen to the words of her mouth, for they are better than silver, gold, or jewels. Her words also bequeath honor, “I have insight, I have power,” she promises, “because of me kings wield power.” If that’s not enough, verses 22-31 rewind the tapes of history, and we see that next to the Creator stood none other but Lady Wisdom! God utilized wisdom when he built our strange and wonderful world, and she rejoiced in the work of His hands.

· Who Can Compare to Lady Wisdom?

In verses 32-36, Lady Wisdom concludes her poem. She addresses the father’s sons as her own and tells them “find me, and you will true happiness.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 600 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Persistent Consistence – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is day 600 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 Zig Ziglar who said, "I believe that persistent effort, supported by a character-based foundation, will enable you to get more of the things money will buy and all of the things money won't buy."Consistent persistence is the key to unlocking the door to success and being able to live the rich and satisfying life. You may never become abundantly wealthy or achieve world recognition but if you are consistently persistent and live a life built on integrity, you will achieve the success and wealth that is most important in life.

The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain, rather he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem, rather he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills. The way to lasting and meaningful success in life is to take one step at a time and keep moving forward. Troubles, hardships, and obstacles may slow you down occasionally, but if you consistently persist at your life’s work, you will finish life’s race with success.

It is then we can echo the words of the Apostle Paul when he was approaching his finish line in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, "As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing."It is hard to believe that we have now reached 600 days on our Wisdom-Trek, and by God’s grace, through consistent persistence, we will trek on for many more days going forward. Thank you for coming along with me on this trek each day. If I can be of assistance to you in any manner on your trek of life, please email me at [email protected].

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.

Just 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:

Live Abundantly (Fully)

Love Unconditionally

Listen Intentionally

Learn Continuously

Lend to others Generously

Lead with Integrity

Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

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!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 599 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Character - The Tools in Gramps' Backpack

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 599 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 18th tool from Gramps’ Backpack is Character.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. One trait that seems to be in short supply today among leaders in government, business, and even some churches is that of character, or another word is integrity. Situational ethics, political correctness, and relative truth seems to be so prevalent. If we look back through history, it probably has not changed much since the beginning of time.

As a father, grandfather, and leader it is my desire to be a man of character, a man of untarnished integrity. I desire to be known both as good and godly. This is difficult when the struggles of life seem to overwhelm us like the continuous regularity of the ocean tide.

It is very difficult to possess the attribute of character and integrity ourselves, and yet it is even more difficult to teach it to our children, grandchildren, and others that we mentor. But that is exactly what we need to do. Our life needs to be a bulwark of integrity, which is visible to others, or the best that we can expect is that we will pass on a mediocre character that is tossed back and forth like the ocean waves.

So the tool we will explore today is...

Character

Integrity is a foundational and powerful tool for building better families, churches, businesses, and governments. What do others see when they see you? You may be able to fool some people some of the time, but those who live with you and know you best on a daily basis know what you are really like. Your character is a reflection of your inward mind and heart. You are what you think about and what you allow to permeate your mind. Proverbs 27:19 tells us, "As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person."

As mentioned before on our Wisdom-Treks when the Bible refers to heart, you can replace it also with your mind. It speaks of who you are at your core. What you think about and ponder on.

Nothing speaks louder or more powerfully than a life of integrity. Character is built slowly over a lifetime. It is the sum of every right decision, every honest word spoken, every noble thought, and every heartfelt prayer. It is forged on the anvil of honorable work and polished by the three-pronged virtues of compassion, generosity, and humility. Character is a precious attribute. It is difficult to build and so easy to destroy by a lapse of judgment, a harsh word spoken, a moment of physical, emotional or spiritual weakness. As Christ followers, we must seek to live each day with discipline, honesty, and faith. When we do, then integrity becomes a habit, part of the very fabric of our lives.

If you sincerely desire to be a good and godly person, then you must align with God and follow His precepts found in His Word. When you do, your good character will become an integrated part of your life. You must filter your daily input through the filter of God’s Word, just like you filter water through a filter which extracts that which will harm you and only allows the pure water of His Word to flow into your life.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 598 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Enjoy Life Today

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 598 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 called 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. The weather has been somewhat cooler than normal for a spring day in May, but the additional rain that we have received will certainly allow everything to grow rapidly.

Our granddaughter Hazel continues to do well. She is on a strong dose of steroids in addition to her chemo, so she desires to eat often. And the steroids are making her swell up a bit. She is also starting to lose her flaming red hair that has come to symbolize her. Elizabeth did cut off her flowing curly locks of hair shortly after her diagnosis with leukemia, so she does have those preserved. It will be interesting to see if it grows back in the same color or some other color. The attending physician indicated that it may grow back both a different color and texture.

We continue to adjust to a schedule that is neither normal nor consistent, but realize that we have to live based on the axiom that I have repeated many times. We must deal with life as it is, and not what we hoped it to be. We must let go of the life that we have planned, so as to accept the life that God has planned for us.

As we continue today on our 5th trail, which is the The Trail of Lifestyle, we will explore how to be happy and joyful with the lifestyle that we currently have while we strive for the lifestyle that we are creating.

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…

The Five Trails on Life’s Trek – Lifestyle Part (4)

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

Philosophy

Attitude

Activity

Results

Lifestyle

1. Enjoy Life Today While Preparing for a Better Life Tomorrow

Although you may not be able to control every situation that comes into your life, you can choose to design your own life of joy and happiness. You can choose to enjoy every experience of your lifestyle. You don’t have to wait for your life to get better to enjoy your lifestyle. If you choose not to enjoy life today, then waiting will merely prolong the agony of putting up with poor service, short tempers, ruined moments of joy, and a continuation of life as it has always been.

That beautiful feeling of joy, peace, and happiness can begin wherever and however you are because it has nothing to do with having more things, but how you view what you currently have.

Obtaining more material “things” isn’t the answer to happiness. If you can count your blessings on only two or three fingers,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 597 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Walk With the Wise – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is day 597 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 C. S. Lewis who said, "The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are."Wisdom is a virtue and character trait that everyone should be continually pursuing as if it were a valuable treasure. Proverbs 2:2-4 tells us, "Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures."

One of the best and quickest ways to become wise is to invest time with those individuals who have already obtained a certain level of wisdom. Seek out wise mentors, invest time with them, live among them, and learn from their wise ways.  Our lives will become like those that we invest the most time with. To reap a harvest of wisdom, you must first plant the seeds of wisdom in your life. This is a fundamental and unbreakable law of God. The Apostle Paul emphasized this in his letter that he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:33, "Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character."The opposite of this is also true as we read in Proverbs 13:20, "Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble."

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. Just 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:

Live Abundantly (Fully)

Love Unconditionally

Listen Intentionally

Learn Continuously

Lend to others Generously

Lead with Integrity

Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

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!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 596 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

A Father's Plea - Proverbs 7

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…

A Father’s Plea

· 10th Speech from Father to Son

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,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 595 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Calmness of Mind – Wisdom Unplugged

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.

Just 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:

Live Abundantly (Fully)

Love Unconditionally

Listen Intentionally

Learn Continuously

Lend to others Generously

Lead with Integrity

Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

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!