Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 129 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Follow the Trail of Be->Do->Have

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 129 of our Trek. Yesterday we completed our fifth and final day on the trail of our reality, which is based on our beliefs. If you missed any of the episodes on this five day trek, it would be worthwhile for you to go back and listen to them or read the daily journals to get a complete picture.

If you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions as we spend time together on our daily trek, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.  Today we are going to extend the concept of how our beliefs create our reality as we investigate the principles or trail of “Be –> Do –> Have.” Many times we get these principles out of order and then wonder why our lives are not what we expect.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the weather has certainly made an abrupt change to fall. We also had a significant amount of rain the past few days primarily due to the hurricane that skirted the east coast.  However, the Charlotte area was spared from flooding, unlike many areas on the eastern seaboard. Our workload this week remains very heavy, but we are taking it one day at a time. As we discussed on Day 65 of our Trek, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

It is time to break camp for today and head back out onto the trail in pursuit of wisdom, insight, and understanding that will help us as we create our living legacy. I would encourage you to keep your eyes focused on the trail today because it is important that we follow the trail of “Be –> Do –> Have” in the proper order. On our way out of camp, I want to ask you this question, "Are you BEING the person you truly want to be?"

Take a few moments and really think about who you are being right now and compare that to who you really want to be. Do you want to be a better father/mother; be happier than you are right now; be wealthier, healthier, and skinnier? Or, do you want to be better at your job or to be a better business owner?

Most of us have been taught that we need to have things in our life to allow us to do what we want, allowing us to be who we want to be. For example, “When I have more time, I will be able to do more activities with my children, therefore I will be a better father.”

In reality, we will never be the person we want to be if we wait to have first.

If you really want to have ultimate success in ALL areas of your life (personal and in business), you really need to start being the person you want to be right now!

You really need to reverse this teaching of having, doing, and then being and begin with being the person you should be. This will drive you to do the things that reflect your character and integrity, so you can have the results that you desire in life. To switch the previous example, “I am being the best father I can be allowing me to do more activities with my children and now I have the time necessary for them.”

Our wisdom nugget for today is to flip the Have –> Do –> Be teaching on its head and explore the Be –> Do –> Have  principle. As we examine this nugget, let’s look at why this principle is so successful in reaching goals and hopefully get inspired to start living the life we truly want without waiting until we have everything in place before we start living the lives we really want to live.

· Have –> Do –> Be – The Trail to Misery and Failure

This thinking holds you back from reaching your goals. When you ask most people what they would like to have in...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 128 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Your Beliefs Create Your Reality (5)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 128 of our Trek. Yesterday was day four of five on the trail of our reality, which is based on our beliefs. Our focus throughout this five day trek is to help you to realize how crucial it is that your belief system is based on a solid foundation of truth. Yesterday we explored how to upgrade your beliefs so that you can change limiting beliefs into empowering beliefs.

Today is our last day of our current trek, and we will determine how we can make the growing of your beliefs a regular part of your life’s trek.  If you missed any of the previous episodes on this trek, make sure you go back and listen to them all to get a complete picture. If you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions as we share time together on our daily trek, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and it is starting out to be a week completely full with our client workload and many other activities. I was the guest on another podcast, which was released over this past weekend. The podcast is titled The Steep Side of the Mountain with host Manny Wolfe, and we discussed our lives and how we are able to integrate with the difficult times.

Now it is time to break camp for today and head back out for our fifth and final day on our reality trail. So far on our Trek, we have focused mainly on the role of our internal map of reality. We have also talked about how our beliefs serve as our internal map makers.

Learning to create a reality that empowers us rather than limits us is certainly a powerful and advanced life skill. This skill, perhaps more than any other, has the ability to totally transform the quality of our lives.

As the TV infomercials would say...

But wait, there’s more!

Creating an internal map of reality based on empowering beliefs is definitely something everyone should endeavor to do. With that said, I don’t want you to conclude that mastering this ability constitutes the final frontier because it doesn’t.

In fact, the real key to a rich and satisfying life is not found within the confines of an intricately detailed map of reality where every square inch is ruled over by some established law or belief.  God created us with a free will to make choices in our lives. Following the strict written code of the law has been replaced by the freedom we have in Christ. We do have freedom and flexibility in the choices that we make. We may not all agree in what constitutes a rich and satisfying life, or even what constitutes a life of faith, but we should choose to live a life that empowers us to fulfill our God-given potential.  To choose less would be a disservice to our creator. The real key to such a life actually lies…

Part 5: Beyond the Map

The problem with being too locked into a minutely detailed map is that everything is (seemingly) accounted for. Perhaps this point can be best made by looking at our earth.

What happens to people’s perception in areas where every square inch of land is accounted for? Don’t they tend to live and be restricted by precisely drawn boundaries or sets of laws? And, doesn’t that reality have a way of fostering preconceived ideas about how things are supposed to be? This type of mindset causes most people to become very judgmental of anyone that does not have the same strict belief system.  Except those clearly defined moral codes set out within Scripture,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 127 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Your Beliefs Create Your Reality (4)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 127 of our Trek.Yesterday was day three of five on the trail of our reality, which is based on our beliefs. Our focus throughout this five day trek is realizing how crucial it is that your belief system is on a solid foundation of truth.

This is day four of five on our exploration into the concept that our beliefs create our reality. Today we will discover how to upgrade our beliefs so that our realities are based on a solid foundation of truth. If you missed any of the previous episodes on this trek, make sure you go back and listen to them all to get a complete picture. If you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions as we share time together on our daily trek, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sunday we headed back to Charlotte after a busy and productive time in Marietta the past 10 days. We have a very busy week coming up with our client workload, including three interviews on other podcasts, and a trip to Phoenix, Arizona, to spend four days with our friends and business partners Charles and Alison Mecom on Friday. We have been working together on various construction projects for about 10 years and are doing some planning on a large project began this past summer.

Now it is time to break camp for and head back out on day four on our reality trail. As we start out I would like to ask you another question. “If your beliefs create your reality, doesn’t that open up a whole world of possibilities?”  So, the next question I will follow up with is “What kind of reality have you created?”

By simply asking that question, we are actually accomplishing two important steps. First, we are acknowledging our creative ability, and at the same time, we are accepting responsibility for our current reality or situation on our trek of life.

During days 1 -3 of this trek, we examined several fundamental ways in which your beliefs influence our reality. One thing that should be abundantly clear by now is the fact that the quality of your life is a reflection of the quality of your beliefs about who you are and what you are capable of.

Knowing that empowering beliefs create a desirable reality and limiting beliefs do the opposite is a good place to start. Obviously, the next step needs to be learning how to eliminate the beliefs that don’t serve you and replacing them with beliefs that do. This brings us to our 4th major mile marker on our Trek today.

Part 4: Upgrading Your Beliefs

There is an essential first step that must be taken before you can even think about upgrading your beliefs. Do you know what that step is? It’s simple really, you need to identify your current beliefs and figure out which ones need an upgrade.

On the surface, this sounds easy enough. But beliefs are shrouded in all kinds of confusing disguises. In fact, have you ever noticed that the word “lie” is at the center of the word belief?

So, how do we get around the deceptive power of our limiting beliefs?

1. Look at the results!

The easiest way to identify your own limiting beliefs is to look at the results they produce. Any area in your life where you are producing good results is probably anchored to an empowering belief. Likewise, any area in your life that is plagued with unsatisfactory or frustrating results is likely anchored to a limiting belief. The results you produce always reveal your underlying beliefs.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 126 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Your Beliefs Create Your Reality (3)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 126 of our Trek. Yesterday was day two of five on the trail of our reality, which is based on our beliefs. As I mentioned yesterday, we are wonderfully created, and we have a vast capacity to create our reality through our paradigms or belief systems.

It is so crucial that your belief system is on a solid foundation of truth. This is day three of five on our exploration into the concept that our beliefs create our reality. If you miss any of these episodes, make sure you go back and listen to them all to get a complete picture. If you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions as we share time together on our daily trek, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. I was able to finish the dining room floor with two coats of polyurethane.  Check out the pictures.  I would encourage you to check out the journal each day as I include related pictures and tweetable quotes in each of them.  

We also attended our nephew Caleb’s wedding in Logan, Ohio, this weekend. He and his new bride Misheel will be living in Chicago where Caleb is an architect and Misheel is an accountant. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time together with family.  I have been so blessed to have a close family where we can share these times together.

Now it is time to break camp for today and head back out for day three on our reality trail.  As we start out I would like to ask you a question. "Why is it that two people can see and experience the exact same situation at the same time, but have two completely different interpretations or reactions?" Which response is true? Both are reality to the person who experiences it. This example supports what we have been exploring for the past couple of days. Our beliefs about our world create our own reality. That reality is personal to us.

 

On a subconscious level, each of us is convinced that our beliefs are both true and accurate. After all, they must be correct, otherwise why would we choose to believe them, right?

Here’s how the dictionary defines "belief" – “Acceptance by the mind that something is true or real, often underpinned by an emotional or spiritual sense of certainty.”

On the first day of our current Trek, we talked about how our beliefs provide a structured process through which we evaluate everything in our lives. Yesterday we saw how our beliefs become the foundation for our internal map of reality.

Today it’s time to take a closer look at how we subconsciously alter the meaning of our experiences and relationships to make sure they fit our map. We will also discuss how we attract people and situations into our life in an effort to verify the accuracy of our version of reality.

As a Christ follower, it is hard sometimes to question the beliefs that I was taught from childhood.  It is important that we make sure that our beliefs are grounded on Biblical truth and not the interpretation of someone else that we have blindly accepted.

If you are also a Christ follower, I would encourage you to adopt the practices of the church in Berea as is written in Acts 17:11, "And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth."

 

Part 3: Defending Your Beliefs

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 125 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Your Beliefs Create Your Reality (2)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 125 of our Trek. Yesterday we began down the trail of our reality, which is based on our beliefs. As humans, we are wonderfully created, but with our vast capacity we also have the ability to create our reality through our paradigms or belief systems. Our beliefs provide us with a life that is rich and satisfying or poor and miserable. To put it another way, our beliefs create a mindset of abundance or scarcity.

It is so crucial that your belief system is on a solid foundation of truth we will spend five days on the concept that our beliefs create our reality. If you miss any of these episodes, make sure you go back and listen to them all to get a complete picture. If you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions as we share time together on our daily trek, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. It has been a rainy week so far, so I have not been able to get out and mow. I am hoping that it will dry off enough before we head back to Charlotte to be able to mow. The leaves on the big trees outside of our office windows are starting to change, and the beautiful fall colors are being painted on a few of them.

By the time that you listen to this podcast, I should have the dining room floor completed with two coats of polyurethane.  Our dining room has a special pattern in the floor that really makes it beautiful.  I will post a couple of pictures in tomorrow’s journal pages.

Let’s break camp for today and head back out on our reality trail as we realize that even though we may be traveling on the same trail, each of us has our own perception on what the trail looks like to us.

Understanding that our mind is very creative can help us grasp the power of how our beliefs shape our reality. George Orwell once said that “Myths which are believed in tend to become true.” This is especially true on an individual basis.

By now, most of us realize that our perception of reality is heavily influenced by our beliefs, but the full extent of this influence is often underestimated. Each of us has a variety of methods for altering our reality, so it conforms to what we believe to be real. Each of us is a reality alteration expert.

Yesterday we discussed how your beliefs provide a structured process through which you evaluate everything in your life. Now it’s time to take that concept a step further and look at the influence of your beliefs on your reality.

Part 2: Your Internal Map of Reality

From the moment you entered this life, your subconscious mind has been busy collecting and processing information. Combined with your experiences, this information is used to create your beliefs about who you are as a person, and how you fit into the world around you.

Because these beliefs are based on your evaluation, and emotional conclusions of your personal experiences, they are accepted by your subconscious as being absolutely true. Your subconscious mind then uses these personal “truths” to construct your personal version of the real world. In other words, your beliefs become the foundation of your internal map of reality.

1. To the mind, your map is reality!

The way in which your map is constructed will determine many aspects of your life. It will be a major determining factor in your success or failure, your happiness or unhappiness, and your satisfaction or dissatisfaction with your entire life experience.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 124 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Your Beliefs Create Your Reality (1)

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 124 of our Trek. Yesterday we discovered how our beliefs affect our decisions which affect our outcomes. We are going to expand this subject over the next few days and explore how your beliefs actually create your reality. This is why it is so crucial to make sure that your belief system is on a solid foundation. If you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions as we share time together on our daily trek, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio, and this morning I was able to finish coating the woodwork in the dining room. I will put the first coat of polyurethane on the floor tomorrow, so by Saturday morning, I should be able to get the second coat applied. After that, we will allow it to dry over the next couple of weeks while we are in Charlotte before moving the furniture back into the room.

Our client workload continues to keep us busy, and it always seems to be a bit of a balancing act to cover the various and different demands of each client.  I do have to admit that at times we feel like the proverbial plate spinner in the circus making sure that we keep all of the plates spinning without them crashing.  Since we do the work remotely, it does allow us to work the hours needed to make sure we accomplish it all.

As we prepare for our Trek and the dangers that we may face today, we discuss the concern about depth perception on narrow trails that are strewn with loose rocks. This is a particular concern on downhill slopes where a misstep could send us tumbling down the trail or worse yet over a cliff. As we think of this, I am reminded that our perception is our reality in our trek of life.

Perceptions come from your beliefs; therefore, what you believe becomes your reality. As we trek today I want to ask you, "What if some of your beliefs about yourself and your worldview are not true?" What if you have self-limiting beliefs about your world that are restricting you from fulfilling your God-given potential?

We all have the imposter syndrome to some extent. Imposter syndrome can be defined as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident or potential success. Let us not confuse this success with material wealth; that is only one minor measure of a successful life.  As we discovered on yesterday’s trek, what we allow to go into our mind impacts our beliefs.

One of my virtual mentors put it this way, “You are what you are and you are where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You change what you are and you change where you are by changing what goes into your mind.”

Remember Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart/mind, for everything you do flows from it."

Since your beliefs are your reality, you need to make sure that your beliefs are based on truth.  You need to make sure what you think about each day is based on Philippians 4:8, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

Even those individuals who may not be coming from a Biblical position understand the importance of what we allow in our minds such as:

"Whatever your mind can conceive and can believe, it can achieve," Napoleon Hill.

"Whatever we think about and thank about we bring about," John Demartini.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 123 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Beliefs -> Decisions -> Outcomes

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 123 of our Trek. Yesterday we continued our commentary of the book of Proverbs and completed Chapter 1 verses 8 through 33. We will be intermixing our Proverbs commentary occasionally throughout the daily treks.

Paula and I have a two trips planned over the next six weeks, so we will be recording some additional Proverbs episodes in advance to air while we are on these trips. As with all of the Wisdom-Trek episodes, if you miss any of the Proverbs episodes, they are located on Wisdom-Trek.com along with the written daily journals.  Today we will be discovering how our beliefs affect our decisions which affect our outcomes.

As you spend time with us on our daily trek, if you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages on Wisom-Trek.com.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio, and this morning I continued to make some progress in our dining room and am still on track to finish it by the end of this week. Our contractors are also in this week to finalize some of the trim work that they needed to complete. So, hopefully we will be able to entirely complete the current projects before we move onto the next room, which will be the library.

As with our daily trek of life, it is important to take time to celebrate the small milestones, victories, and accomplishments. One of these accomplishments is the very positive feedback and gradual increase of trekkers who are joining with us each day on our Wisdom-Trek.  Thank you so much for being part of our wisdom community.  Joining us each day will positively impact your beliefs, which will impact your decisions as well as your outcomes or results. So, let’s head out on our trail for today and learn how to have positive outcomes in our lives.

If you have joined us on previous days, you realize that as a person of faith, I feel there is much wisdom that can be gained through God’s Word. What we allow to impact our beliefs will have a significant impact on the results that we achieve in life. The Bible tells us there are three reasons why what you believe is important. The first reason why you need to know what you believe and why you believe it is because it shapes your life.

Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart/mind, for everything you do flows from it."

The Bible tells us that our beliefs determine our decisions and behavior. If there are things in your life you want to change, you don’t change them from the outside in. You change them from the inside out. You start with your thought life, not by trying to change external things.

Second, if you have a faulty worldview, it’s going to cause all kinds of unnecessary problems in your life. Proverbs 29:18 says, "When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful."

When you don’t have God’s truth and a correct worldview, you stumble all over yourself. But when you pay attention to God’s revelation, then you are blessed.

Do you want your life to be blessed? Just attend to the truth. Pay attention, and get your worldview in line with truth, not popular opinion.

The third reason is found in 1 Peter 3:15, "Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it."

God expects you to not only know what you believe and why you believe it but also to be able to explain it to ot...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 122 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Proverbs - Chapter 1:8-33

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 122 of our Trek. Yesterday we began the actual commentary of the book of Proverbs and completed Chapter 1 verses 1 through 7. Today we will continue on with verses 8 through 33. If you miss any of the commentary covering the book of Proverbs, I would suggest that you listen to any missed episodes. Every daily episode can be found at Wisdom-Trek.com along with the written daily journals.

If you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio, and today we worked all day at one of our client locations as we do each month to assist them with processing and printing of their customer billing.  Being onsite also gives us an opportunity to catch up on some of the loose ends that need a little more attention.  It was a good day of work, and overall everything ran smoothly.  It is rewarding to be an integral part of our clients businesses and to bring them added value. In all of our interactions each day, we should nurture value and trust into our relationships.

During our Trek through the book of Proverbs, we will learn the correct trails to take each day. Some days these trails may appear very difficult for us as they will hit points in our lives that need correcting. This knowledge will be gained through the use of clear instructions, great truths, practical stories and experiences, comparisons and contrasts, and imagery and poems, all of which are contained in Proverbs.  Using our skills of observation that we discussed yesterday, let’s head out for our Trek today as we continue on our trail of discovering wisdom in lessons from two different perspectives.

A Father’s Exhortation: Acquire Wisdom

8 My child, listen when your father corrects you.

Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.

9 What you learn from them will crown you with grace

and be a chain of honor around your neck.

In Solomon’s time, both parents educated their children. It is good when children can learn from both parents. If you have children or grandchildren, use every day experiences of life to impart instruction.  Make it enjoyable.

We should listen to wisdom. Wisdom is beautiful, and it is valuable. To possess it is like a crown on your head. Or, it is like a gold chain round your neck. To obtain wisdom, we must study, and we need discipline. Just like our trek of life, we cannot become wise quickly. But, wisdom will improve our lives.

Some people imagine that they know a quicker way to improve their lives. Solomon warns about such people in verses 10-19. These type of people offer friendship (verse 14), but their friendship cannot last because their plan is evil. They offer rich rewards (verse 13), but really they will suffer a terrible fate (verse 19). Wisdom is much better than any evil plan.

· The thieves’ plan

10 My child, if sinners entice you,

turn your back on them!11 They may say, “Come and join us.

Let’s hide and kill someone!

Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent!

12 Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave[b];

let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death.

13 Think of the great things we’ll get!

We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take.

14 Come, throw in your lot with us;

we’ll all share the loot.”

15 My child, don’t go along with them!

Stay far away from their paths.

16 They rush to commit evil deeds.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 121 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Proverbs - Chapter 1:1-7

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 121 of our Trek. Yesterday we continued with the beginning of our commentary on the book of Proverbs, and we discovered why Proverbs is important in our pursuit of wisdom.  As I mentioned yesterday we won’t go straight through the book of Proverbs consecutively, but we will intermix the commentary with other daily wisdom nuggets. Today we are beginning the actual commentary of the book of Proverbs.

If you are not familiar with the structure of a commentary, I will read each verse or group of related verses and then share a brief observation or comment on that verse or group of verses. This type of study is one of the most effective ways to learn and apply information on a practical basis.

I would like to challenge you, though. You do not have to agree with my observations and comments of the verses. It is my hope that this format will give you an opportunity to think for yourself and grow in insight and discernment and then grow in wisdom. If you have any of your own observations, comments, or questions, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

Before we get started, I want to remind you of the drawing in celebration of the 100th day of our Wisdom-Trek. We will have a drawing on October 5th when we will be giving away 7 Wisdom-Trek t-shirts. There are only two more days to register.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. It has been a busy and full day of work activities and the day has rushed by once again.  After some exercising this morning, I made additional progress on the woodwork in the formal dining room. I have it mapped out so I should be able to finish the woodwork and floors by the end of the week at least based on my current plans. I so enjoy the view from the office here, as I have the opportunity to observe the leaves just starting to change in colors.

As we head out on our Proverbs trail today, one of the most powerful skills that we can possess while hiking is the skill of observation. If we are going to enjoy and learn from our daily journey in life, it is imperative that we hone our skills of observation so that we do not miss the critical and enjoyable moments of our lives.

During our discussion on our Trek through the book of Proverbs, we will be using the tool of observation. This is equivalent to using a pair of field glasses or binoculars while hiking. It allows us to see the crucial, awe-inspiring, and breathtaking moments of life up close and personal.

As we look at the verses in Proverbs through the binoculars of our mind, we will see the treasures of wisdom in detail so that we will be able to create a legacy of wisdom, seek out discernment and insight, boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before, and live long and prosper.

During our trek through the book of Proverbs, we will learn the correct trails to take each day. This knowledge will be gained through the use of clear instructions, great truths, practical stories, practical experience, comparisons, images and poems, all of which are contained in Proverbs. Let us not delay any further as we start in Chapter 1 of Proverbs.

The Purpose of Proverbs

1 These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.

Solomon wrote both proverbs, or wise words, and songs. In all, he collected 3000 proverbs along with 1005 songs. The Book of Proverbs contains many of them. This book teaches us how we should live. It explains the way of wisdom. It warns us about being foolish.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 120 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Proverbs - The Purpose

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 120 of our Trek. Yesterday we started a commentary on the book of Proverbs with a background introduction of the book.

We won’t go straight through the book of Proverbs all at once, but we will intermix the commentary with other daily wisdom nuggets. Today we will look at why studying the book of Proverbs is so important for wisdom and lay out the six sections within the book.

Before we get started, I want to remind you of the drawing in celebration of the 100th day of our Wisdom-Trek. We will have a drawing on October 5th when we will be giving away 7 Wisdom-Trek t-shirts. There are only three more days to register, and you can register once per day.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio.  Today we drove to New Castle, Pennsylvania, to see our newest grandchild Evelyn Grace. She is the cutest little girl and her proud parents Barnabas and Leesha are doing well.

Today our campfire is burning brightly, and as we listen to the crackling of the wood, it almost sounds as if is part of our conversation, sharing in the nuggets of wisdom that we are consuming.  As we continue to share more introduction to the book of wisdom, you contemplate "What is the purpose of the Book of Proverbs?" As your mentor and your guide, I strongly believe if you desire to gain wisdom and desire a life built on wisdom, then Proverbs must be the foundation for your life.

I am going to keep our discussion of Proverbs more conversational as if we were literally sitting next to each other. Through the magic of our modern technology I am right there beside you. If you have any comments or questions, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

As I share the wisdom of Proverbs, I will also weave some related scriptures into our lessons as they apply. So, let’s get started.

1. How do we gain wisdom in our lives?

Since you are on our Wisdom-Trek with us, you have already taken proactive steps to gain wisdom. Congratulations and thank you for trekking with me. If you feel that you are lacking wisdom, as I do in so many areas of life, then all you need to do is ask God for wisdom as instructed by James, the half-brother of Jesus in his letter written to the dipersed believers in the 1st century AD.

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. 6 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. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

2. Why is Proverbs so important?

Proverbs accomplishes something no other biblical book does. It simply compiles numerous short instructions for living an effective life on earth. While other books articulate profound theological truths, lengthy narratives of triumph and failure, or prophetic preaching to a disobedient people, Proverbs concerns itself completely with instructing people in the path of wisdom. The writers of the book recognized the varied circumstances of a person’s life and provided principles to apply in a variety of situations rather than instructions to follow in only a few specific instances.

3. What's the big idea of Proverbs?

Proverbs states its theme explicitly very early in the book,