Day 406 – How Much Better to Get Wisdom Than Gold – Proverbs 16:1-16

August 10, 2016 by H. Guthrie Chamberlain, III Leave a Comment

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 406 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

How Much Better to Get Wisdom Than Gold – Proverbs 16:1-16

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 406 of our trek, and today 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 the first half of chapter 16.

We are broadcasting from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The day this episode is released, Paula and I will be heading to Atlanta and then on to Scottsdale, Arizona to work for a few days with our partners on our construction project in Mesa. Even with the ability to do most of the financial work remotely for our Arizona project, it is always great to be onsite for a few days to catch up on the project details and plan for the next few months.

It does require a lot of wisdom, insight, and understanding to handle the details of the various companies that we work with, and there is no better source of wisdom for business and life than in the book of Proverbs. On our trek for today, we will dig into verses 1-16 of Chapter 16. The title for today’s trek is taken from verse 16, and it is…

How Much Better to Get Wisdom Than Gold

Let’s start in with verse 1.

¹We can make our own plans,
but the Lord gives the right answer.

You do need to be responsible and plan, but you also need to consider God’s precepts in all the plans that you make. God gives you the guidelines in His Word to make the correct plans if you are willing to study and apply those guidelines to your life.

²People may be pure in their own eyes,
but the Lord examines their motives.

We as humans have been given free will and have the capability to rationalize and justify just about any type of behavior, good or bad. The more you know, understand, and apply God’s Word to your life, the closer your motives will be in line with God’s principles. God knows your motives, even when it is difficult to discern them for yourself.

³Commit your actions to the Lord,
and your plans will succeed.

When you truly commit your plans and action steps to God, they will succeed. The caveat that many of us miss is that these plans and actions have to be in line with God’s precepts found in His Word. Too many times we want God to help us succeed when our plans do not follow those precepts. You must know His Word to understand His principles.

⁴The Lord has made everything for his own purposes,
even the wicked for a day of disaster.

It is hard for us to understand why a just and holy God would seemingly make something that is wicked. To understand it properly, you have to understand that God created everyone with a free will. We can choose to follow His Word, or not. Those who choose not to are choosing to be made into that which is wicked. The opposite is also true. If you choose to follow His Word, you are made right and just through His Son.

⁵The Lord detests the proud;
they will surely be punished.

Pride is one of the most grievous sins because when you are proud, you lose your dependency on God and desire to usurp what belongs to God. Because of this, if you do not humble yourself, then you will suffer the consequence of your pride.

⁶Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin.
By fearing the Lord, people avoid evil.

This verse is two-fold. God’s love and faithfulness to you completely annul your sin, as if you do not have any. In the same way, when you unconditionally love others and are faithful to them, then you will overlook sin in their lives and be much more forgiving. Along with this thought, if you respect and love God, you will do all that you can to avoid acts that are contrary to His Word.

⁷When people’s lives please the Lord,
even their enemies are at peace with them.

One of the sure signs of a wise and understanding person who lives according to God’s principles is that they will not be contentious with others. They will not be pompous or self-righteous but live in such a manner that even those who don’t like them will be respectful of them.

⁸Better to have little, with godliness,
than to be rich and dishonest.

While we all desire to have wealth, money and possessions are not what makes us truly wealthy. There is nothing wrong with having wealth, but it is much better to have less and follow God’s principles than to violate those principles in order to gain money and possessions.

⁹We can make our plans,
but the Lord determines our steps.

This verse is very similar to the first verse of this chapter. You do need to be responsible and plan, but you also need to consider God’s precepts in all the plans that you make. When you do this, then God will ultimately guide you in the situation and circumstances that He desires for your lives.

¹⁰The king speaks with divine wisdom;
he must never judge unfairly.

A Godly leader will gain his wisdom from God. His advisers will also be wise people, providing the leader with sage advice. When doing so, all decisions will be fair, right, and just.

¹¹The Lord demands accurate scales and balances;
he sets the standards for fairness.

God is just in all ways. In business and in life, you need to make sure that all of your transactions and interactions with others are fair and balanced. God’s standards for fairness are true and always accurate

¹²A king detests wrongdoing,
for his rule is built on justice.

A good and Godly leader should abhor actions within the workplace, church, or family that are not good. Integrity woven with justice should be the priority of a leader.

¹³The king is pleased with words from righteous lips;
he loves those who speak honestly.

A good leader desires to have individuals and advisers around him/her that speak what is right and true, regardless if it is not what they necessarily want to hear. As a leader, to have people around you that are willing to speak the truth in love is of a great benefit.

¹⁴The anger of the king is a deadly threat;
the wise will try to appease it.

While few of us live in a monarchical society where we have to be concerned with death for lack of compliance, we should be respectful of those in leadership positions in our work and other situations. We should always do our best and be wise and prudent in our interactions with leaders.

¹⁵When the king smiles, there is life;
his favor refreshes like a spring rain.

There is an innate desire in all of us to please others, especially those in positions of authority over us. You should strive to do your best for those who you are responsible to and ultimately perform in such a way as if you were doing the tasks directly for God because ultimately you are. When we do please those who are in authority, it is refreshing to them and to us.

¹⁶How much better to get wisdom than gold,
and good judgment than silver!

We all, including myself, would love to have more money and resources. The older I get, the more I realize that money and material possessions are of little importance once you have your basic needs covered. How much more valuable are the close relationships with family and friends? We gain what is truly valuable in life by increasing our wisdom and good judgment. When we have that, then we will desire little else in life.

The nuggets of wisdom that we gather every Wisdom Wednesday provide the stepping stones that we need on our daily trek to grow emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Making plans based on God’s guidelines while keeping the proper perspective on what is really important and will allow us to grow wiser each day.

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

That will finish our trek for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person when you meet with them and invite them to come along with us each day.

If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek, so each trek will be downloaded to you automatically. I would also appreciate it if you would rate and review us on iTunes or Google Play so that others will find out about Wisdom-Trek and join us.

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 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 on Monday!

Day 405 – Don’t Be Ignorant – Wisdom Unplugged

August 9, 2016 by H. Guthrie Chamberlain, III Leave a Comment

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 405 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Don’t Be Ignorant – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week, wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is day 405 of our trek, and it is Tuesday and time for our 2-3 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 each Tuesday & Thursday. So, let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Today’s quote is a Chinese Proverb which says, “A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion.”

In our politically correct world, and especially in the midst of the election cycle within the United States, it is very evident that most politicians must lack wisdom and according to this proverb would be considered ignorant. If you desire to be wise, you must know, understand, and hold to your set of core values. A person who is wise is a person of integrity. Integrity is the quality of being honest, having strong moral principles, and possessing moral uprightness. In fact, in the letter that Jesus’s half-brother James wrote, he explains the double-minded, ignorant man quite well, “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.” This certainly sounds like a person who is always following public opinion instead of standing on his or her integrity.

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

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!

Day 404 – Finding Your Motivation

August 8, 2016 by H. Guthrie Chamberlain, III Leave a Comment

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 404 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Finding Your Motivation

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 404 of our trek, and today is Motivation Monday. Every Monday we hike the trails of life that will encourage and motivate you to live a rich and satisfying life this week. Today we will explore how to find your motivation each day.

We are broadcasting from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. I am recording some episodes in advance of our trip to Arizona this week. We will be leaving late on Wednesday and will return very early on Monday the 15^th. We have decided to fly out of Atlanta so that Paula’s mom can visit her sister Gerri while we are gone. Aunt Gerri lives in an assisted living facility in Atlanta now, so it makes it convenient for all of us if we fly from there. If all goes according to plan, when this episode is released, I will have replaced the garbage disposal at Home2. The one that was installed when the house was built 6 years ago was a lower end unit, which was prone to clogging and now has cracks in the housing of it. We plan to install a significantly better unit in its place. Although I am not looking forward to the installation, I have the motivation to save money and sufficient ability to install it, so those two factors made our decision.

On our trek for today, let us explore the practical steps for…

Finding Your Motivation

While motivation is needed to complete tasks, it also requires the ability to complete tasks, and we need to understand that. As an example, I may have the motivation to become a quarterback for the NFL but since I am only 5’4” and 122 pounds, there is no way that would be physically possible. In most cases, though, if you are motivated to do something, you will also have sufficient ability to do so, or you will be motivated enough to learn how. As John Maxwell puts it, “You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller but by making yourself bigger.”

· Motivation makes things happen.

Where there’s no will, there’s no way, even if you have the ability. One of the best ways to improve your personal effectiveness is to find the drive to master your motivation. If you can master motivation, you can deal with life’s setbacks through the various seasons of life. As with success in most of life, there are certain steps that can be followed to ensure the desired outcomes. Here are 15 steps along our trail for today that will help you to find your motivation each day.

1. Connect to your values.

This is the ultimate secret. If you can connect the work you do to your values, even in small ways, you will be motivated to succeed. One of my values is making a positive impact on everyone that I contact each day. This may be through this podcast, online, or in person.

If you can connect the work you do to your values, even in small ways, you will be motivated to succeed.

Tweet This

2. Find your WHY.

Your WHY is your overriding purpose in life. You may have to drill down to find your true why, but keep asking yourself why until you find what really drives you.

3. Change your WHY.

As you continue to drill down on your why, you may find out that you are doing tasks for the wrong reason. Are you doing that task to get it done, or does it fulfill your purpose? Changing your why may be what you need to motivate yourself.

4. Change your HOW.

You may need to analyze how you complete your tasks. Is there a more enjoyable or efficient way? Are you doing the tasks correctly, or are you just trying to get through them? I like to think of it as mastering your craft. Sometimes slower is better. Other times, the key is to make it a game and actually speed it up. You can set time limits and race against the clock. Changing your how can get you out of ruts and find new ways to escape the mundane.

5. Remember the feeling.

When was the last time you felt good about completing particular tasks? How can you replicate that time? Tie your tasks completion to an individual reward system that will be fulfilling to you. Anticipate the outcome, and you will find the motivation for improvement.

6. Make a mind shift.

If you find yourself lacking the motivation to complete tasks because they were not pleasant in the past, make a mind shift to the future and how you will feel when it is completed. Choose your mindset before you begin, and your outcomes in the present will improve.

7. Find a meaningful metaphor.

Maybe you are the early bird that catches the worm, or a stitch in time saves nine. Place in your mind a catch phrase that will drive you on like, no tasks left behind. Yes, it does sound a bit corny, but what we feed our minds will become our reality. That is why I turn all of my projects into “epic adventures to be conquered.”

8. Take action.

Here’s a secret that once you know it can change your life. Action often comes before motivation. You simply start doing an activity, and then your motivation kicks in. Nike was right with the saying, “Just do it.” For example, I don’t always look forward to getting up at [5:30] each morning for my 70-minute workout, but once I start, I find my flow.

9. Link it to good feelings.

Find a way to link tasks to good feelings. I know that although I am tired after my workout, it is also a good tired and that I have reached my objectives. My workout time is also when I have my devotional time and listen to other uplifting podcasts which prepares my mind for the day. On days when I cannot get a workout in, I miss that feeling of accomplishment.

10. Impress yourself first.

Connect to your passion and set the bar for yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others, unless that is truly motivating. Instead, compare yourself to you yesterday. Let your internal benchmark be you.

11. It is your choice.

If you tell yourself you “HAVE” to do this or you “MUST” do that or you “SHOULD” do this, you can weaken your motivation. The power of choice and simply reframing your language to “CHOOSE” can be incredibly empowering and exactly the motivating language you need to hear. Choose your words carefully and make them work for you.

12. Partner with someone.

This is one of my favorite ways to make something fun. One person’s painful task is another’s pleasure. Partner with somebody who compliments your skill or who can mentor you and get you over the humps. As King Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 4:9, “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.”

13. Change your question.

Sometimes you need to change your focus. To change your focus, change the question. If you ask yourself what’s wrong with this situation, of course, you’ll find things to complain about. Ask yourself what’s right about the situation, and you can quickly find the positives and get your groove on.

14. Set a fixed schedule when possible.

Sometimes your body or emotions are working against you because you’re not giving them a break or fueling them the right way. One simple way to improve results here is to find a routine for eating, sleeping, and moving or working out that supports you. Many times this is the key to motivating you to succeed.

15. Play to your strengths.

Spending too much time in your weaknesses wears you down. Investing more time in your strengths helps you renew your energy and find your flow. It’s the place where you can grow your best. Success begets success, and this helps you build momentum. What goes into your mind is what will come out.

· Pain and Pleasure for Motivation

In most cases, we choose to move toward pleasure. When we do, we move away from pain. It’s that simple. We do more to avoid pain. Keep that in mind when you find it tough to change a habit. Change can often be temporary pain. Keep this in mind when you need to motivate yourself and make a conscious choice to endure temporary pain to ensure long term pleasure.

This is why sometimes you can’t think your way into something. For example, your mind wants one thing, but your body wants another. You tell yourself working out is good for you, but your body just doesn’t want the pain. Be willing to choose what is best long term. It is then that you will truly be motivated to make the most of every opportunity. As Colossians 4:5 tells us, “Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.”

Today on our trek we hiked through the 15 steps for finding your motivation. Make a conscious effort to apply these steps to your life so that you can create and live a positive legacy for all to see.

Tomorrow’s short trek is part of our Wisdom Unplugged series that we are now hiking on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are 2-3 minute wisdom supplements that will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise throughout the entire week. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person when you meet with them and invite them to 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.

As we take this trek 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 on Monday!

Day 403 – The Cycles and Seasons of Life (10) – Make Your Winter Seasons Count

August 5, 2016 by H. Guthrie Chamberlain, III Leave a Comment

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 403 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Cycles and Seasons of Life (10) – Make Your Winter Seasons Count

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy podcast. This is Day 403 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. Today we will complete our trek covering the Cycles and Seasons of Life. We will continue the winter season that we started last Friday and then wrap up the trek with a recap

We are broadcasting from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Our workload has been steady this week, and we continue to make slow but sure progress on the various projects we are working on. This is not unlike the cycles that a farmer goes through during the various seasons of the year. The analogy comparing waiting for the Lord’s return to the farmer in James 5:7 explains life pretty well, “Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.”

To be successful in life, it is imperative that we fully understand the laws of planting and harvesting. Realize also that during your lifetime, there will be many different cycles of seasons. Just because particular cycles of seasons did not produce the harvest you expected, don’t let that control future seasons or the entirety of your life. Today on our trek, let us continue the winter season which must be a time for reflection and planning while each new spring season gives you an opportunity to start new again. Today’s trek is titled…

Make Your Winter Seasons Count

As we continue to contemplate the winter seasons of life, you need to grasp that throughout all the seasons of the year. Winter can touch your lives in many small ways, as if it were testing you and providing you with subtle reminders of the plight of those whose lives are surrounded by winter. Winter can be a lost opportunity or the loss of love. A winter is when a trusted friend gives you cause for disappointment when your children young or old make unwise decisions that will force them into a winter season, or even when expected business goes to a competitor. A frigid blast from the cold, harsh words of someone you love is winter, and so is the pessimism or cynicism from someone whose advice and counsel you seek.

The major challenge confronting those who seem to be in a perpetual winter is that they don’t prepare for the arrival of spring, and lack the ability to recognize that arrival. So that you don’t become like this yourself, you must be planning, learning, and preparing so that you become part of the solution rather than allowing yourself to remain part of the problem.

If you are currently without love, money, or employment, it is a winter, and its very appearance is because you’ve missed a springtime somewhere. Even if it was not your intention, neglect is always costly, and winter is merely a circumstance—an effect brought on by some earlier cause. Dwelling on the severity of your personal winter merely makes the winter more difficult to endure. You must search the inner confines of your mind and your soul for the purpose of discovering the real cause within you.

Adversity is seldom attributable to someone or something outside of ourselves. To blame outside influences for the circumstance of winter is a convenient excuse for misplacing your responsibility. It is the normal human tendency to place blame for a winter of life on someone else, which is why most humans harvest the result of mediocrity that accompanies such behavior.

For circumstances to change, your attitudes, opinions, and habits must change. Conversation on how circumstances ought to be or on why situations aren’t fair is just that conversation! Unproductive conversation is what the lazy and unambitious engage in during the winters of life, for there is a certain euphoria that such empty conversation produces which dulls the senses from the harsh reality of how circumstances really are. The same euphoria is found on television and the internet. It will get you all worked up but does not provide a solution to your winter seasons. It is so easy to use it as an attempt to escape from an empty life. Since this will not solve the issues, many turn to alcohol and other drugs seeking solutions in external means. Others turn to idle gossip, which allows those who engage in it to overlook their own weaknesses by attacking the weaknesses of others.

For circumstances to change, your attitudes, opinions, and habits must change.

Tweet This

Instead, let winter find you planning for the arrival of spring, not contemplating the errors of commission and omission of last year. Let winter find you with a joyful countenance and a happy heart. Even if your winter is still dark and cold currently, share a good word for all those around you. Do it with confidence in the future, not apprehension; with an appreciation of the past, not regret; and finally, with gratitude for your achievements, adversities, and uncertainties of life, for each is a form of blessing which removes all limitations from the future possibilities of life.

Winter is a time for examining, pondering, and reflecting. It is a time for re-evaluating both purpose and procedure, for rediscovering an often misplaced sense of purpose. It is a time for finding new ways of solving old dilemmas and for devising unique plans for contributing to others less fortunate than yourself. It is a time for understanding and controlling anger, that frequent human emotion which causes us to pass judgment without fair deliberation. It is a time to analyze your fairness and to overcome your tendency to hastily spew out condemnation without a full investigation, which is the height of ignorance.

Winter is a time for being sincere with yourself and about yourself when the tendency is to fool yourself. It is a time for developing the skills that allow you to get along with imperfect people, for even a fool can get along with perfect people. It is also a time for becoming wise enough to know what to say, as well as to know what to overlook and what not to say.

The wisdom that comes with the careful use of winter teaches you also that evolution is merely revolution at a slower pace and that constant gradual change is the order of God’s universe. Only those worthy human attributes of honesty, loyalty, love, and trust in God and in your fellow humans are meant to remain constant. Winter is a time for being grateful for your achievements or for having endured your lack of achievement.

The physically inactive season of winter is a time for adding to your storehouse of knowledge through continued education, which in truth does not mean learning things that you do not know but in learning to behave as you do not now behave. The facts and things of life are automatically learned when you become inspired with the excitement of high expectation and belief in your own abilities.

With winter comes the opportunity to catch up on unkempt promises and on unanswered letters. It is a time also for encouraging the young, who with their inexperience are insecure, and for encouraging the old, whom because of their experience are apprehensive of the future. Let not a winter go by without investing much of your time in assuring, teaching, and encouraging others. For in so doing, your reward will be an uplifted confidence in yourself; the teacher is always the greatest recipient of the lessons he seeks to teach to others. Let winter find you thinking first of someone else, appreciating, being kind, and being gentle. And by all means, let winter find you laughing more, even though the winds blow cold and the snows cover the soil which will soon bring new life.

Someone once said, “Don’t pray for things to be easier, rather, pray for more obstacles and more challenges, for it is out of these that man’s character and will to succeed are formed.” Nearly every success story that I am aware of began when the person first lay flat on his mental and financial back. In this condition, people usually become sufficiently disgusted to reach deep down inside and pull out talent, ability, desire, and determination, which are the basic essentials required of anyone wishing to free themselves from the winters of life. It is in the face of adversity that circumstances begin to change, and the circumstances always change as a result of the personal change that takes place.

I have discovered that circumstances never change by themselves. It’s when a human with sufficient disgust, desire, and determination to change his life finally steps up and shouts for all the world to hear, “I have had it with defeat and humiliation, and I will tolerate it no longer.” That is when time, fate, and circumstances call a hasty conference, and all three wearily agree, “We had best step aside because we are powerless to stop that kind of resolve.” Unfortunately, the masses of people don’t change, they wait for circumstances to change, blaming others or blaming circumstances for their meager progress. They accept defeat as though it was God’s design for humanity to wallow in pools of defeat and self-pity.

It is in the face of adversity that circumstances begin to change

Tweet This

The fact is, life is going to continue, even though you may now be defeated. The world will wake up tomorrow just as it did today, and events will continue to unfold with repeated regularity of God’s creation. Your role of present failure, or success, is a temporary condition. You can rebound from failure as surely as you gravitated into failure. The condition of any person who feels defeated and ashamed is being repeated by thousands of humans around the world at this same moment in time. You must bring to mind the phrase, “This too shall pass” each time you are tempted to think you have accepted all the negativity and failure that your life could tolerate.

For everyone who is mentally, spiritually, and financially exhausted, a few will grasp for a new beginning. When they find it, they will pull themselves to their feet and move back into the world. It is then that they will not only do well, but leave their mark indelibly impressed upon the spiritual, business, political, or social world. They will be written about, talked about, and examined by their peers in numerous ways. The world will then pass judgment upon them as being “lucky” in some way and will be unaware of the agony and loneliness that each one experienced before he or began his or her march upward toward accomplishment.

So, foolish as it may sound, thank God for your present limitations or failure if that should be the case, for you now occupy a status from which nearly all success stories originate. You can go where you want to go, do what you want to do, and become what you want to become, right from where you are today.

Over the time of recorded history, millions who were in abject poverty, had significant handicaps, or had failed many times chose through faith and hope that they would not remain in that circumstance. We can think of Longfellow, Michelangelo, Lincoln, George Washington Carver, Ford, Disney, and many others.

So be grateful for your adversity for it is the seed that you can now plant in the spring seasons of life for your own better future. The world will willingly stand by and let you feel sorry for yourself until you finally die, broke and alone, if that’s what you desire. It will also stand aside for you once you firmly decide that your present winter season is only temporary and that you will get back up and go on to make your impact on your world. The fact is, the world doesn’t really have time to care which choice you make, so for yourself at least, give a run at adventure with your eyes firmly set on achievement, not merely existence and self-pity.

From this moment on, and for what remains of the balance of your life, make your commitment to excellence, remembering that it is your challenge to succeed. After all, you only have one life! Do something remarkable!

We have now completed our series of the Cycles and Seasons of Life. Let us commit to living effectively during each season. Our next Philosophy Friday will begin a new series as we discover the truths and mysteries of life.

Our next trek will be Motivation Monday where we explore more trails of how to get and stay motivated to bring value to your world. So encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

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 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 on Monday!

Day 402 – Invest in Time Alone – Wisdom Unplugged

August 4, 2016 by H. Guthrie Chamberlain, III Leave a Comment

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 402 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Invest in Time Alone – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is day 402 of our trek, and it is Thursday and time for our 2-3 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 on each Tuesday & Thursday. So, let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Today’s quote is from Jonathan Swift, who tells us, “A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone.”

A sign of a truly wise person is that he is very comfortable with being alone. He is able to use this time for reflection, meditation, and prayer. This is a time away from the noise and distractions of the world to enter a world of solitude. To gain true wisdom, you must become comfortable with who you are and that your life is uniquely valuable. Invest time each day in peaceful reflection and realize that God made you special, and you are valuable because you are unique. God loves you unconditionally so that you can love yourself and then others unconditionally. When you gain this realization, it is then you will have the wisdom and strength to have a significant and positive impact on the lives of others. Never underestimate your impact on others because your impact will ripple throughout eternity.

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

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!

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Nov
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30