Wisdom-Trek ©

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 274 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Wandering in the Wilderness by Faith #3

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 274 of our trek, and for the past two days as well as today we are exploring what it means to be Wandering in the Wilderness by Faith. If you miss any of the days of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. I made good progress varnishing the library woodwork during the day Saturday. Saturday evening was invested with the grandkids as I was once again the monster and chased them throughout the house. I am glad I am limber and young at heart to be able to enjoy the time I can invest with them. Our daughter Elizabeth stayed, and we had homemade split pea and ham soup. It was a great way to invest the evening. Sunday we headed south once again to Charlotte. We dropped Kip off at his home and invested a little time with Buddy and Chelimo. We will be in Charlotte for a little less than three weeks and then head back to Marietta. We do enjoy being able to wander back and forth between the two homes.

Speaking of wandering, on today’s trek, we continue to study of what it means to be...

Wandering in the Wilderness by Faith

· The Faith That Saves

To have faith in our lives is of utmost importance. Faith's importance to salvation is emphasized in Ephesians 2:8, where Paul writes, "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God." Faith plays a role in the entire process until we enter the Kingdom of God. It is the sum of what God is doing in our lives and is written in John 6:29, "Jesus told them, 'This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.'”

The faith that saves has its beginning when God, on His own initiative, calls us and leads us to repentance. He does this by His Spirit guiding us into all truth. Stirring up our minds to knowledge, His Spirit enables us to perceive from a perspective we never before seriously considered. This, combined with the confrontation that occurs with the carnal mind when we are forced to choose what to do with this precious truth, gives birth to a living faith, a faith that works, a faith that walks in godliness.

As miraculous and powerful as God's liberation of Israel from bondage in Egypt was, even more so and of greater importance is the breaking of our bondage to Satan, this world, and human nature. This is why Ephesians 2:8 says the faith that saves is "the gift of God."  Israel's release from Egypt was God's gift too. Regardless of how much they cried out to Him, the Israelites would never have left Egypt without Him. If God had not been merciful and faithful, if He had not been trustworthy, they would never have been freed.

What did God lead us to that sparked this saving faith in us? He led us to His Word. We can glean a measure of faith from observing God's creation, but this faith cannot save because it does not reveal His purpose. The seeds of faith in us are planted through the proclamation of his Word as Romans 10:17 states, "So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ." As Christ followers, our lives should reflect the Good News in both deed and word.

Of course, this does not mean that all who hear the message will understand and accept it. Without the message, however, there would be nothing to believe in, nothing that one could trust to lead him to salvation. The evidence that our lives are properly reflecting the Good News is found in the fruit that our lives produce wh...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 273 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Wandering in the Wilderness by Faith #2

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 273 of our trek, and yesterday and for the next couple of days, we are exploring what it means to be Wandering in the Wilderness by Faith. If you miss any of the days of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Most of Saturday, I focused on varnishing the woodwork in the library and made significant progress. It is always such a great feeling of accomplishment to see the finished product. I find it a relaxing and good diversion from having to be so mentally focused throughout the week with client work. We also were able to have five of our six grandkids over Saturday evening for another night of fun. Paula and I desire to live intentional in all that we do and not find ourselves wandering through life without a sense of direction.

On today’s trek, we will focus on living by faith, so that we do invest our time with purpose. This is day two of…

Wandering in the Wilderness by Faith

· Living By Faith

How important is faith?  In Hebrews 10:37-38 we learn that “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”

"My righteous ones will live by faith" is both a statement of fact about the basis of a Christian's life and a command. It is so important that this same phrase is repeated once in the Old Testament and three times in the New (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11). In each case, the context is somewhat different, but its importance to a Christian's salvation is not lost.

The concept is not difficult to understand. Paul further clarifies it in 2 Corinthians  5:7, "For we live by believing and not by seeing." A simple definition of “faith” in Webster's New World Dictionary is "complete trust, confidence, or reliance." At the end of the definitions, "belief" is listed as a synonym. “Belief” means "faith, esp. Religious faith; trust or confidence." The dictionary definitions show that the two words are virtually synonymous. However, in the Bible and in practical application a very wide difference separates merely believing and living by faith.

The practical application of faith is more than simply acknowledging the reality of God. Living by faith involves qualities that are better expressed by the word "trust." This kind of faith produces loyalty or faithfulness expressed in the Christian's life by works of obedience.

Do you think for a moment that the Israelites in the wilderness disbelieved that God existed? A few may have argued that the miracles they had experienced from the arrival of Moses in Egypt until they died in the wilderness were nothing more than natural phenomena. There are always some doubters and scoffers of that sort as is mentioned in 2 Peter 3:3, "Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires."

The vast majority of Israelites could not deny to themselves God's mighty acts on their behalf. They had heard the voice of God at Mount Sinai, had seen the wind from God part the Red Sea, and had escaped death on Passover while the Egyptian firstborn had died. But when God required a higher level of obedience, to follow His cloud across the wilderness, and depend on Him to supply their every need, the record shows they did not trust Him. Their loyalty dissolved, and they rebelled!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 272 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Wandering in the Wilderness by Faith

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 272 of our trek, and yesterday I asked you, “How Heavy is Your Backpack?”  I must follow up today with, “Have you taken steps to lighten your load?” This concept will be important during the next three or four days as we explore Wandering in the Wilderness by Faith. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. It has been a joy to have our grandson Kip with us this week. He has done so well working on Granny’s Surface Pro tablet during the day in our office with Granny and Gramps on either side of him. He worked on Thomas the Train and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood games for long stretches at a time. Both of these programs have great moral teaching principles built into them.

We were on-site with one of our clients in Marietta on Friday and took Kip along with us there also. It has taken many years to build a lifestyle business where we can work as we do. We still work hard, which usually includes many hours each week, but being location independent has become a reality. It allows us to wander from various locations and still be able to complete our work.

As we consider the concept of wandering, we want to ponder what it means to be...

Wandering in the Wilderness by Faith

When I hear the phrase wandering in the wilderness, it brings to mind how the nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years on their way to the Promised Land. This was due to their lack of faith that God would help them to occupy the Promised Land. They could have possessed the land in less than a year from leaving Egypt, but because of their disbelief, the trip stretched out 40 times longer.

We see that the older generation of the Israelites whom God had freed from slavery in Egypt die in the wilderness. The story of their journey through the wilderness shows that they never overcame their slave mentality, the mindset they brought with them from Egypt. They were set free, but in their minds, they were still as shackled as if they had never left. Their thinking—and thus their attitudes and conduct—constantly reverted to the way it had been molded in Egypt.

The nation of Israel witnessed the terrible plagues which were God’s punishment on the Egyptians. They also witnessed awesome miracles that demonstrated God's mercy upon them. The Red Sea opened up for them. They lived under a cool cloud during the day and a warm pillar of fire at night.  They had their daily needs supplied directly by God, and yet the Israelites found the wilderness to be nothing more than a huge cemetery in which they wandered for forty years.

It is not unusual for all humanity, and even Christ followers, to be slaves to past practices, teachings, and mindsets. We need to be free from our mentality of slavery. Galatians 5:1 tells us, "So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law."

What the nation of Israel experienced in their period of wander in the wilderness serves as an example for us as is mentioned in I Corinthians 10:11, "These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age."

In this spiritual journey, Canaan, the Promised Land, represents the Kingdom of God to us. But those older Israelites never made it there! They fell short of the goal because a lack of faith that was controlled by their mindset of slave...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 271 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

How Heavy Is Your Backpack?

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 271 of our trek, and the past three days on our hike, we used a simile of how Life Is Like a Seed. Today we want to focus on the load that we carry on our trek of life each day. So I want to ask you, “How Heavy Is Your Backpack?” If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. On our daily trek called life, the hills that we climb, the twists and turns on the path that we face, and the steep slopes that we find ourselves on can be challenging and very interesting. On the home front, we have come across one of those situations. Paula's Mom asked Tuesday why the furnace was only blowing cold air. Since our office is upstairs and the temperatures have been mild, I had not noticed it.

Upon investigating it, I discovered the flame was not lighting in the furnace although the blower continued to run. We called the company we purchased it from, and unfortunately, the heat exchanger has a crack in it causing it to overheat and shut off the flame. A more serious situation is that it can also leak carbon monoxide.

Since the furnace is over 20 years old, we will have to replace the entire unit. This is a major expense that we had not anticipated, so it is time to be extra frugal to cover the cost.  Although this is something extra in our backpack of life that will be a burden for a while, we have learned over the years that it is best to take life as it is, not how we wished it were. So, the positive aspect of this is we will have a more efficient furnace that will work better.

If we are not careful as we trek through life, we will allow our backpack to become full with cares and concerns that weigh us down and cause us issues.  So, today as we start up the trail let me ask you…

How Heavy Is Your Backpack?

Imagine carrying a backpack filled with rocks everywhere you go. Now that would be exhausting! It gives new meaning to the phrase “doing the heavy lifting.”

If the weight of that backpack seems like too much to bear, just imagine the impact of the emotional baggage that we carry every day! Think about it…We fear getting fired, we complain about the service we receive, we express disgust over the politics of the nation, we envy the person “next door,” we worry about meeting deadlines, and we discredit our colleague for “stealing” the promotion. Emotional baggage? You bet.

Now ask yourself, “What do we gain by gossiping about a colleague, badmouthing politicians, or ranting about our frustrations on Facebook?” Answer: We get upset, with little to show for our efforts. It’s as though we believe that if we gossip, rant, and rave loud enough and often enough, people will accept our way of thinking. The truth is, besides being a colossal waste of time, nothing really changes — except that we’re not much fun to be around. Who needs that?

Even when we don’t overtly express our negative feelings of worry, prejudice, fear, criticism, guilt, anger, and envy, we play out these “dramas” in our heads like a chess master plotting his next few moves. These negative thoughts race through our minds like a whirlwind, making us more and more anxious each time we revisit them. In fact, some people get so overwhelmed and depressed that they worry themselves into a frenzy, making it tough to concentrate during the day and causing sleep issues at night. Taken to the extreme, emotional baggage can be absolutely debilitating if not contro...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 270 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Life is Like a Seed #3

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 270 of our trek, and the past two days on our hike, we used a simile of how Life is Like a Seed. Today we will finish this comparison with part three. There are many parallels from both a physical and spiritual perspective. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. I am making some progress on varnishing the woodwork in the library. There is a lot of wood to cover, plus the floor. I could easily spend full time working on The Big House, but at this point in our lives, it is still required that we earn income to work, live, and meet our financial obligations. As always, our client workload remains busy, so it does require a lot of focus to complete all the work. This is how life is, one step in front of the other as we trek on each day.

On the past two days, we learned about seeds and the conditions needed for germination. Let’s continue on our trail today as we seek out more information about planting seeds and what is required for growth.

This is the final day on how our…

Life is Like a Seed

· The Work—Planting Seeds That Grow

Ultimately, the seed’s sole purpose is to reproduce its own kind, but there are various levels of harvest. In front of a large crowd, Jesus told the Parable of the Famer Scattering Seed. This story is found in Luke chapter 8. In verse 5 it says, "A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field…" We see there were different growing environments within this field, yielding varying rates of failure and success. Christ explained to his disciples privately the types of soil that were in the field in verses 11-15 where Jesus said, “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word.  The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved.  The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation.  The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity.  And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest."

We see that the purpose of doing God’s work is to scatter the seeds on whatever soil is around us. We are not responsible for the size of the harvest. God will take care of that.

Throughout the ages in the past, the way the seeds were scattered was through the technology that was available at that time. Today we have the capability of scattering God’s Word to practically the entire world from wherever God has placed us. The Internet has become a powerful tool in spreading the “seed” of God’s Word, and this is only the beginning! We must not pass up this opportunity.

We can compare this growth to either a fruit or nut-bearing tree. At first, the tree is a sapling with just one stem. But it soon grows more branches—at first two, then four the following year, and even more every year after. Eventually, the tree will become mature enough to bear fruit or nuts but only as much as the branches are able to bear. For instance,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 269 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Life is Like a Seed #2

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 269 of our trek, and yesterday and for the next couple of days on our hike, we want to understand how Life is Like a Seed. There are many parallels from both a physical and spiritual perspective. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Although it is still February, we know that spring will be here soon. Our pair of hawks have returned over the past month and are preparing their nest for laying their eggs in March. It is very interesting watching them each day from our office windows as they diligently and deliberately reconstruct and enlarge their nest.

Let’s continue on our trail today as we seek out more information on how our…

Life is Like a Seed

· Five Basic Conditions

In general, there are five basic physical conditions that all seeds need to germinate:

Light

Water

Soil

Time

Temperature

Similarly, Christians need these five spiritual conditions to grow. Let’s look at how and why a seed needs each of these conditions and how they spiritually apply to a Christian’s life.

1. Light

Sunlight, which changes in length and intensity throughout the year, is a plant’s signal to start germinating at the right time. It also helps show the plant which way is up and where to send its leaves to receive light so that it can produce its own food.

Notice what Psalm 119:105 states, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” God, in His Word, shows us through daily Bible study which way to go.

Alone, man does not know how to plan his own course as mentioned in Jeremiah. 10:23, “I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.” 

As a result, he gropes in the darkness of this world, ignorant of the only way that produces true and lasting peace, happiness, and prosperity. The light of God’s Word reveals the path that leads to the kingdom of God and eternal life.

2. Water

Water is also a vital key for the life of every plant. As mentioned on yesterday’s hike, some seeds need to be immersed in water to germinate. All seeds need to absorb and fill up with water, which is the first step in germination. This happens by either a chemical trigger or a change in the seed coat.

When we accept Christ as our substitution or sacrifice for our sins so that we become holy in God’s sight, we are washed clean. A comparison to how husbands are to love their wives is how Christ loved the church which is described in Ephesians 5:25-27, "For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault."

A parallel can also be considered with baptism and the story of the Samaritan woman at the well when Christ told her in John  4:13-14, "Jesus replied, 'Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.'" 

3. Soil

Soil will determine the health and strength of a plant. The better the soil, the healthier and stronger the plant. The soil should not be too sandy or too hard,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 268 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Life is Like a Seed #1

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 268 of our trek, and yesterday we discovered 9 lessons learned from hiking the mountains. Today and for the next couple of days on our hike, we want to understand how Life is Like a Seed. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Sunday evening was filled with laughter and squeals as we had five of our six grandchildren over for the evening. We had pizza and watermelon for dinner and then Gramps was changed into a monster, as I chased the kids all over the house in an attempt to catch them. By the end of the evening, my throat and body were a bit sore from all the monster growling and being piled on by the kids as they tried to free the captured ones. It was a great evening together.

Anytime we have the opportunity to impact our grandchildren positively we certainly want to plant those seeds within them. Fortunately, they all have very strong and loving homes, and we can reinforce good principles in their lives. This is an important part of living our legacy each day.

As we consider planting those good seeds within our grandchildren’s lives, on our hike today we want to begin a short series that will allow us to consider how…

Life is Like a Seed

· God instructs us to learn spiritual principles from Creation. Have you considered the example of the seed?

Let time travel forward a couple of months and imagine that it is now springtime! Farmers are busy planting their fields. Gardeners are cleaning up their yards and preparing their gardens. They are taking little seeds and placing them in the ground so that they will grow into beautiful flowers and fruitful plants. There is nothing quite like a bouquet of fresh flowers or the taste of fresh vegetables from your own garden!

Growing up on the farm, our primary crop was apples from the 40 acres of apple trees in our orchard. We also had a very large vegetable and flower garden that we all worked in. Regardless if the plant was an apple tree, corn stalk, or hollyhock flower, each one starts with a seed of the same kind of plant.

Seeds come in different shapes and sizes, with each type having different requirements for germination (the process in which seeds sprout and begin to grow). Small seeds must be placed as delicately as possible in the soil so that they do not get buried too deep. They are usually planted together in groups, ensuring that some will grow into thriving plants. Larger seeds, on the other hand, are buried deeper and generally with fewer in a group. Some seeds prefer warm, dry environments while others require environments that are cold and moist. There are seeds that will germinate in less than five days while others will take five months—or even longer!

Because there is a wide range of seed types, man has learned a seemingly endless variety of methods to cause seeds to sprout and grow. One common treatment is exposing the seed to a cold, almost freezing, temperature for a specific length of time, mimicking winter. Certain seeds, such as some carnivorous plants from Australia or some pine cones germinate when they are exposed to fire. Some germinate when immersed in water. Others, such as Cyclamen, germinate when they are kept in the dark for a certain period. Hard-shell seeds must be scarred or cracked. Some seeds can sit dormant for several years before something triggers them to germinate.

As you will come to see,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 267 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

9 Lessons from the Mountains

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 267 of our trek, and yesterday we explored 7 activities which we should all incorporate into our lives. Today we are going to discover 9 lessons learned from hiking the mountains. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. On Sunday, we went to church and dinner afterward with Dad in Cambridge, Ohio. It is always great to spend time with him worshipping God and visiting. It was extra special for Dad this time since we had Kip with us. It is a blessing for all of us that the great-grandchildren are able to know and spend time with Dad.

On Sunday afternoon, we did have some work to complete and additional planning for some of our clients, which are negatively impacted by low energy prices.

I was also able to do some final cleaning of the woodwork in the library in preparation of coating it with polyurethane. It will certainly look great when we are finished.

Each day of life is an opportunity to learn if we are receptive to its lessons. As we head out on the trail for today on our trek up the mountain of life we will learn…

9 Lessons from the Mountains

Let’s imagine in our minds that we have just arrived in Seattle, Washington, in preparation for an expedition of mountain climbing. Set behind the Seattle skyline, standing elegantly at 14,411 feet is Mount Rainer, which can humble even the most experienced climbers. Our guide for our expedition has promised us an unforgettable adventure on Mount Rainer. We first hike to Camp Muir, the main base camp at 10,080 feet. From there we start the difficult part of the hike to the summit of Mount Rainer.

The lessons from this experience are extremely relevant to our everyday life.  Here are several key takeaways.

Preparation can mean life or death.

If you were to actually take this trek, your journey would start long before your boots hit the dirt with careful consideration of every foreseeable scenario. As with your life plan, you want to have a plan for the various scenarios that you may encounter. Don't just plan for the best case scenario. Plan for everything that could go wrong too. The moment you're forced into survival situations, whether that is financial, health, relational, or otherwise, is not the right time to start developing a plan to get through it. 

Pace yourself.

With all of the adrenaline and excitement of hitting a trailhead, it's common for hikers to push too hard at the beginning and burn out during the climb. As you go through life, you need to keep your emotions in check, pace yourself, and maintain a steady pace. This will allow you to conserve emotional, financial, and spiritual resources that will be needed to tackle the difficult terrains of life as you encounter them.

Just keep moving.

There will be times in mountain climbing and in life when it doesn't seem worth it. No one said it'd be easy. Remember that momentum is important. When you stop on a mountain above snow level, it doesn't take long for the cold to set in. In the same manner, stopping for too long when life’s difficulties set in can make it very difficult to start again. When you're tired, just put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.

Take care of yourself.

You will not be able to reach your end goal if you do not take care of yourself.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 266 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

7 Activities to Integrate Into Your Life

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 266 of our trek, and yesterday we discovered the 7 insights to develop your personal philosophy of life. Today we will explore 7 activities which we should all incorporate into our lives. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. The trip north on Friday evening was uneventful, and we enjoyed the additional conversations with our grandson Kip, who came along with us this time. Saturday was spent cleaning up drywall dust and preparing to refinish the woodwork in the library and parlor. We also invested some additional time making edits to Your Life Plan Blueprint. It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures around 70°, so we spent some time enjoying the day as Kip ran around and played on the swing set.

It is so good to take these moments to relax and reflect because life for most of us seems to be overly busy to the point where we see diminishing returns with each new activity that we try to cram into our already busy schedules. As we head out on our trail for today, let us ponder the fact that maybe the type of activities that we are involved in are not leading us to fulfill our life purpose. Let us look for the mile markers along our trek that will point out the…

7 Activities to Integrate into Your Life

As you consider the various activities that make up each day, if you are like me, you feel that there is just no way to add anything else to an already overflowing schedule. My question to you is, Are the activities you are involved in for this season of life congruent with your life purpose and objectives? Are these activities moving you closer to or farther away from your destination in life? These are hard choices that you will have to make, and you will need to learn how to say no to the good activities so we can say yes to the best activities.

There are some universal activities or habits though that all of us should integrate into our lives to ensure that we are moving toward a life that is both rich and satisfying.

Consider replacing some of your less productive activities/habits with ones that have better benefits. This will allow you to create and live your legacy each day. Here are the activities/habits that I recommend.

1. Exercise

Working out is good for the body, mind, and soul. According to various studies, people who exercise 30 minutes a day, five times a week, enjoy better overall brain health, including uplifted mood, reduced stress, increased creativity, and clearer thinking. Exercise is one of the best activities you can be involved in to stay alert and alive. For me the best time to exercise is early morning. I set aside about 70 minutes each morning for this activity. I do include listening to devotional materials, podcasts, and audio books into exercising to maximize the use of my time.

2. Hobbies

Have you ever noticed that some of the most productive and successful people also lead rather interesting lifestyles in addition to their careers? That comes largely from the personal pastimes they choose to enjoy. Hobbies are a good outlet for stress and an excellent source of creativity. Although I really do love work, I also enjoy renovating The Big House and taking care of the grounds. These are times of relaxing and thinking for me.

3. Learning

Success in all areas of life means fostering a love of learning. If you want to inspire a love of learning inside yoursel...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 265 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

7 Insights for Developing Your Personal Philosophy

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 265 of our trek, and yesterday we discovered the 18 signposts for strong personal leadership. Today we will extend our trail and look for 7 more signposts to develop our personal philosophy of life. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. On the day this episode is released we will be back in Ohio at The Big House. There is an extensive amount of renovation work that needs to be accomplished in the weeks that we spend in Marietta as we prepare for our Chamberlain reunion scheduled for July 4th weekend. We won’t be nearly finished in the entire house by then, but we have made significant progress in the past 5 years. We are anticipating between 75-100 people in attendance during that weekend.

As you can tell our personal philosophy about family is that it is very important to us. We desire to preserve the heritage that has been entrusted to us. We realize that few individuals in today's fragmented and fast-paced society have this privilege. Just as we are aware of this, on the trails that we will hike today, we will look for additional signposts to discover…

7 Insights for Developing Your Personal Philosophy

Your philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out. This is how to build a meaningful one.

While there are many puzzle pieces for success, without developing a sound philosophy, the other pieces are of little value. So as you go forward on this journey toward success, remember to:

1. Set your sail.

The winds of circumstance blow upon all of us. We all have experienced the winds of disappointment, despair, and heartbreak, but why do people arrive at such different places at the end of the journey? Have we not all sailed upon the same sea?

The major difference isn’t circumstance. It’s the set of your sail (or the way you think). It’s what you do after you have set your sails and the wind decides to change direction. When the winds change, you must change. You have to struggle to your feet and reset the sail in a manner that will steer you in the direction of your own deliberate choice. The set of your sail, or how you think and how you respond, has a far greater capacity to destroy your life than any challenges you face. How quickly you respond to adversity is far more important than adversity itself.

The great challenge of life is to control the process of your own thinking.

2. Learn from success and failure.

The best way to establish a new and powerful personal philosophy is to objectively review the conclusions you’ve drawn about life. Any conclusion you’ve drawn that isn’t working for you could be working against you. The best way to counteract misinformation and wrong data is to input new and accurate information. Gather information from personal experience. If you’re doing something wrong, evaluate what you did wrong and change things.

Seek an objective, outside voice about how you are and what you’re doing. An objective opinion from someone you respect can lead you to early and accurate information about your decision-making process. Listen to the freshness of an outside voice—someone who can see the forest and isn’t lost in the trees.

Observe the successes and failures of other people. If people who failed were to give seminars, it would be helpful. You could see how people mess up and you wouldn’t do what they did.