Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 20 of our Wisdom-Trek and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.
Today we look at The Echoes of Life.
We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with another busy workload today with many projects demanding time. Sometimes we feel like the proverbial plate spinner in the circus trying to keep all the plates spinning without them falling and breaking. However, we do strive to balance this out towards the end of day by taking a break and having a healthy and nourishing dinner.
Paula and I work with our various clients together, but we each have our specific areas we work on. Paula usually focuses more of her time in the afternoons and evenings. While she is finishing up her work, it allows me to break at about 6pm in the evening to prepare dinner for us. I love to cook, and we both prefer to eat at home where we can control the cost, quality, and quantity of what we eat. It works very well for our situation.
As we invite you into our lives each day, it is our hope that you will consider us your friend, guide, and mentor on this trek of life. Life’s trails are not always smooth and can be rather difficult, but the key is to draw strength from each other and to seek joy in each situation.
Today on our Wisdom-Trek, let’s visualize ourselves on a narrow path with a wall of stone on our right side and a steep cliff on our left. Across the vast valley is another ridge of mountains. As with life on many days, our path today is steep and is strewn with rocks of all sizes. It certainly makes the trek today slow and difficult. As we are moving slowly along as a team, we hear someone from the group of trekkers shouts out, “I’m scared!” And, within a few seconds, we hear a voice coming back to us from across the valley “I’m scared!” Someone else calls out, “Me too!” Andc we hear back, “Me too!”
Realizing that this will not be good for our moral, our trek, or our safety, I call out, “You can do it!” And, from across the valley, the same words come back to us. Once more I holler out, “You are doing great! You are a champion!” And, the reassuring words are repeated back from the other mountain. With these reassuring words, peace comes to the team, and we successfully navigate this dangerous part of our trail.
Such as it is with our trek of life. What we project out comes booming back to us as an echo. This is very similar to the principles of planting and harvesting which we looked at on day 15. You will harvest what you plant but much more than you plant.
It is so important that we are always aware that what we say and do does have a significant impact on the lives of others, and as it is returned to us like an echo will impact us as well.
Zig Ziglar said it this way, “Life is an echo. What you send out comes back. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others, exists in you.”
What we say can give nourishment and strength as Proverbs 16:24 explains that “Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
Our words can also:
- Be a source of wisdom, “Wise words are like deep waters; wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook,” Proverbs 18:4.
- Satisfy like a good meal, “Wise words satisfy like a good meal; the right words bring satisfaction,” Proverbs [18:20].
- Are more valuable the any riches, “Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies,” Proverbs [20:15].
As we consider the words that we speak to others and even to ourselves, let us reflect on what Mother Teresa said.
Our actions can also echo back to us. How we treat others, will ultimately be how we are treated. At times we may be able to mask our words. We may have even mastered how we speak to others, but…”Your words may hide your thoughts, but your actions will reveal them.”
We should always encourage and strengthen everyone that we impact, even in the smallest manner. If you desire to gain wisdom and create a living legacy, then you must inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more. These essential leadership skills will become evident as what you inspire in others will come echoing back into your life.
One area that Paula and I have observed in the lives of others is when someone is critical or judgmental of people they usually are critical and judging themselves in the same way. We have concluded that when we judge another, we do not define them rather we define ourselves.
Think about this in your own life. Are the areas of life in which we are most critical and judgmental toward others, the same areas where we have struggles? Are our actions echoing back to us?
I think that Christ put it very succinctly when he spoke about the echo principle when judging others in the book of Matthew 6:37-38, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full — pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
Talk about a formula for a happy, peaceful, and abundant life. I think this passage pretty much is the secret to success.
Unlike the echo from the mountains on our trek today, we do not always see an immediate return in what we do. And, that is okay. Otherwise, you are giving to others out of a selfish and impure motive.
The effects of kindness are not always seen immediately. Sometimes it takes years until your kindness will pay off, and is returned to you. And sometimes you never see the fruits of your labors, but they are there, deep inside of the soul of the one you touched. That should be sufficient reward for what we do.
Send out goodness, mercy, kindness, and love each day, and you will receive an abundant echo of the same in return. But, the opposite is also true.
While I try to be very careful not to generalize situations or individuals, we also want to be honest with ourselves. Consider:
- If you are critical of others.
- If you have a hard time forgiving others.
- If you find others unkind to you.
- If you move from one crisis to another in life.
Let us ask ourselves. What am I sending out into the world today? More specifically, what am I sending into the lives of others? Our problems may not be the fault of others. It may be that we need to change what we our sending out, so that the echoes that come back are encouraging, kind, full of wisdom and helping us to create a living legacy each day.
As we end our Trek for today, let us remember the words of a lowly slave that became one of the greatest gladiators of all time Maximus Decimus Meridius.
That will finish our podcast for today. Tomorrow we will consider expectations versus the reality of life.
So, please check into our “camp” tomorrow for another day on our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
I encourage you to leave a discussion topic, comment, suggestion, or question about this podcast on the Contact Us page of our website, or email me at guthrie@venturecg.com. If you would like us to discuss any topics or answer any questions during our podcast, please let us know. We would love to have interaction from members of our Wisdom-Trek team.
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As we take this Trek together let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy the Journey, and Create a Great Day! See you tomorrow!