Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 159 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Life Is Like a Storm

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 159 of our Trek, and yesterday we looked at why life is like money.  Today and throughout this week, we will be presenting a series of short wisdom stories. If you miss any 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. This episode is being released on Friday as Paula and I are on our 7-day podcasting cruise. This week while we are out at sea I have a series of podcasts covering short stories about wisdom without a lot of additional commentaries. Once we get back from the cruise, we will remain at camp for a few days as we dive back into the commentary on the book of Proverbs.

Today we will hike on the Stormy Trail as we see that in every life a little, or a lot of rain will fall. Some of it may even be in the middle of very heavy storms.

Today’s story is…

Life Is Like a Storm

The day starts with the glory of the warming sunrise in the east as the mists of the night are slowly thrown back to their own beginnings. The silent warmth of the sun seeps slowly through the window as the birds are bouncing from branch to branch while high in the sky is seen the majestic eagle gliding smoothly on the updrafts created by the warming earth.

Does each day start with sunshine penetrating the deep of the night, and does your heart warm to the sights and sounds of nature around you? Does this sound too good to be true?

If your life is constantly full of sunshine where each day is transformed into beauty and each worldly gift is yours to use, then you are one of a few. To the rest of us, an idyllic world only exists in our fantasies. This is not to say, however, that we might not experience a day of warmth, sunshine, and beauty. It is only to say that within each life, rain must fall and this rain is in reality the pain, sorrow, disappointment, difficulties, and struggle of the true road of life.

Not too many years ago, I happened to meet a businessman who had started with nothing and was able to build a small fortune. It seemed that everything he touched turned to gold. It wasn’t really a gold-laden path he chose. It was more that he chose his ventures well and put in tremendous effort. He had a good life by most people’s standards; he also had a wonderful family and his son and daughter were the “apples” of his life. The children were blessed with a loving family, everything they needed, and were both moving along into fantastic careers of their own.

If you were to view the household from the viewpoint of a stranger looking in, their total life couldn’t have been better. But, within each life, there are struggles or turmoil unseen. In his case, while all appeared well, there was a looming family problem with his daughter. His daughter met a very controlling man who constantly mentally influenced her to the point she didn’t want anything to do with her family at all. She had moved in with him and the distance between her family grew further and further apart.

Her father became more and more frustrated and hurt at the same time. He had tried to reconnect with her to no avail. He was at a complete loss of what to do to try and get his daughter to even speak to him. His life was slowly falling apart. It no longer mattered to him about his career, his business, and his ability to be able to make things better. Into each life, rain must fall.

As months passed, his world was crumbling – his mind totally focused on his daughter. What was once a home filled with warmth and sunshine became one of total depression, moodiness, and darkness.

The sad situation continued for over a year. But, out of the blue one Saturday morning, the front door opened. There she was – standing alone with her suitcase in her hand. He had heard the door open and went to see who was there. As he turned the corner from the kitchen, he stopped and saw it was his daughter with her suitcase. Without a word, he approached her and hugged her as she welcomed her father into her arms. As he told me later, they didn’t speak a word for many minutes as they continued their warm embrace.

To this day, he is not sure exactly what happened with her relationship. She never spoke much about why she left only to say she slowly realized that she was more of a person than one given to the absolute control of another. She realized that her real life was more about how she had been raised not what someone else dictated to her.

Not every situation in life is reversed, as was this situation. But, if you are a parent, hope never dies. Life has its own way of throwing rain on us, but even rain stops. The real secret to life is to understand that we all must face and deal with rain. There is no protection; there is no stopping life from dealing a hand even a hand we do not want. Even so, keep your head above water. Keep to your core beliefs. Keep looking for the sun because it is there.

In a way, this story reminds me of the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 in which the son had come to his senses and returned home after squandering all his money. The father had the right to be very upset, but instead he said in verses 23 and 24, “And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,  for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found. So the party began.”

I would recommend that you read the entire story. It is a fascinating one. The son’s value was never diminished, and after the rainy storm, the sun (and son) returned.

Today we looked at why our Life is Like a Storm and that a little rain must fall into every life. For some of us that does come in the form of violent storms, but the sun will always shine even after the worst storms. The lessons that we can learn from each other are valuable, so encourage your friends and family to the join us each day and come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy. For the next few days, we will explore some more short wisdom stories.

That will finish our podcast for today. Remember to listen to your daily dose of wisdom on Wisdom-Trek.com, or subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Spreaker, or YouTube so the episodes will be downloaded to you automatically each day. Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

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 each day.

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. 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!