Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 52 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.
There Are No Guarantees
Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. As we consume these nuggets of wisdom each day and apply the principles to our lives, we gain wisdom and understanding that transforms how we think and the choices we make. This is Day 52 of our Trek, and today we are continuing on our trail and looking at how to handle life when there are no guarantees.
We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. When I look out my office windows on this beautiful sunny day and see all of the different types of trees that surround our home, it makes me think, ‘What type of tree (or person) do I want to be?”
There are a few evergreens, poplars, hickory trees and several varieties of large maples and oak trees. Paula and I are too fugal (i.e. cheap) to actually buy additional trees, so we have nurtured several trees from saplings that spring up in the yard each year. Very few remain after the squirrels and the deer have their way with them. Through our experience, we know that the oak trees are the hardest to get established. They grow slowly, but yet they are the largest and strongest of trees on our property.
So, would you prefer to be a pine tree that grows fast with wood that is soft and has limited use or the mighty oak that take decades to grow but has wood that is nearly indestructible. Through the wisdom and insights that we gain each day on Wisdom-Trek, let us emulate the mighty oak trees that last for many generations.
On our Trek yesterday, we found ourselves trapped by a storm, much like the storms of life. We could not very easily go back because our destination was ahead of us nor could we travel forward as the tail ahead was washed out by an unexpected flash flood that hit without notice. So, we were left with a choice to make – where do we go from here?
When we set out on our trail yesterday, we fully expected to reach our destination without any major difficulties, but unexpected events do happen. There are no guarantees in life, so we must do our best to plan and prepare for the unexpected. We may have avoided this situation by checking our weather a little closer, but popup summer storms are very difficult to predict, even with the best analysis.
The old idiom “The best laid plans of mice and men oft times go astray” is certainly true, but we should plan and prepare as best as possible. Once we have prepared, then we need to be ready and accept the detours of life that will come up. The better we plan and prepare, the less impact these diversions will have on us.
Fortunately, on this Trek, we planned ahead enough that all of our food was sealed in weather proof containers, and we brought along adequate tools. Although it will delay us some, we are able to gather sturdy limbs and build a crude bridge over the chasm ahead of us. We have determined a suitable course of action that has provided a solution to our dilemma. We are now across the ravine and on our way again.The trail ahead is slippery and muddy with additional obstacles that were not expected, but we can be fairly certain that we will eventually arrive at our determined destination.
While there are no guarantees in life, we still need to be diligent in our planning and preparing on a daily basis. None of us have the guarantee of tomorrow, but we should all plan as if we will live forever but live as if we will die today.
As part of my meditation and devotional time this morning, I reread Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 verses 1-6. This passage covers the same topic as our Wisdom-Trek today. Let’s break it down into segments for discussion.
1 Send your grain across the seas,
and in time, profits will flow back to you.
Be willing to take some risks in order to achieve rewards. Understand that a return on your investments in skills or money will not be achieved instantly but over a period of time.
2 But divide your investments among many places,
for you do not know what risks might lie ahead.
Don’t risk everything you have in a single endeavor. Throughout your life build multiple sources of income. This is one practice that Paula and I have built into our consulting business with different types of clients in different market segments. While the type of services we provide for our clients are similar to narrow our focus, we are not dependent on one type of market.
3 When clouds are heavy, the rains come down.
Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls.
Learn to interpret the signs of the times in your personal life and in your business or occupation and understand there are some basic principles that are true and accept them.
4 Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant.
If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.
Take action. There will never be perfect conditions for your life. Fear melts when you take action towards a goal you really want. Life is too short to waste. Dreams are fulfilled only through action not through endless planning to take action.
5 Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.
Realize that there are many situations in life that we will never understand or fully comprehend. Don’t allow that to become an excuse. Keep moving forward, and choose to enjoy the journey. We need to accept by faith that which we do not understand with knowledge.
6 Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another — or maybe both.
Work hard and keep busy with productive activities. As you grow diversify your efforts so that you will have more opportunity to prosper overall. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant. Don’t expect instant gratification for your activity. Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.
Well, that will finish our podcast for today. If you missed any of our previous podcasts, please check out Wisdom-Trek on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud or Wisdom-Trek.com. As we continue our trek tomorrow, we will figure out a way to move forward on our trail, realizing that there are no guarantees in life.
So please join us at our “camp” tomorrow for another day on our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
If you enjoy our daily doses of wisdom, I encourage each of you to help us in the following five ways:
- Leave your name and email address on our website in the bottom right hand corner of any page in the side-bar or on each daily journal page. This will allow us to update you with special information about Wisdom-Trek.
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Thank you!
The journal from this podcast can be found at Wisdom-Trek.com, where we also have pictures, tweetable quotes, wisdom nuggets, and free resources.
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!