Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 8 of our Wisdom-Trek and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.
Today we continue to investigate the tools needed for a successful Wisdom-Trek.
Today we are recording our podcast/journal from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. We are back in Marietta for a couple weeks for more renovating and grounds keeping. With a large lawn to maintain, I look forward to the time I can be outside on the mower enjoying nature and listening to podcasts or audio books.
As of the time of making the notes for this podcast/journal we just found out that our sixth grandchild which is due in September is a girl. She is the daughter of our third child Barnabas and his wife Leesha. That will make 3 boy and 3 girl grandchildren. We are excited to welcome this new life into our family. Granny and Gramps can’t wait to meet her in person.
We would love for you to get to know us on a more personal level, so each day we will share a little personal information. We live a rather modest and simplistic life, but it is always full to the brim with activity and enjoyment. Please check out our website Wisdom-Trek.com/About Wisdom-Trek.
We would also like to get to know you better, so please feel free to share with us on Wisdom-Trek.com/Contact Us or leave us a message on our Facebook page Wisdom-Trek.
During the first two or three weeks we lay the foundation of living an abundant life while creating a living legacy. I encourage you to listen to any previous episodes that you may have missed.
Today, we are continuing to consider what tools or equipment we need in order to gain wisdom, live fully, and enjoy our trek of life while we create a living legacy.
As we reflect back to our analogies, we recall that love is the hub of the wheel and the remaining tools or attributes are the spokes stemming from a perfectly round hub. So far we have inserted the spokes of joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness.
I also used a 2nd analogy of love being your backpack for our trek. our backpack is filling up with the attributes/tools we need for success. Word pictures and parables help us to learn much easier, so please use the word picture you best relate to. I also encourage you to work on strengthening these attributes in your life each day.
The three remaining spokes in our wheel (or my 2nd analogy the tools in our backpack) are faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These attributes are referred to in the Bible as the “Fruit of the Spirit.” As we cultivate this fruit, it will grow in our lives as we build the foundation to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few chosen to grow before. In doing so, we will establish the framework in our lives that will truly allow us to “Live Long and Prosper.”
As a reminder, I have provided tools to assist in these areas on our Free Resources page.
I encourage you to take the 9 Tools Self-Assessment to see which attributes in your life need a little more nourishment and cultivating without ignoring the existing strong points.
Today we will look at the tool/spoke (attribute) of faithfulness.
As we consider faithfulness and look at the definition, we see that a faithful person has five facets to them:
- Strict or thorough in the performance of duty – a faithful worker
- True to one’s word, promises, vows – a faithful spouse
- Steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant – a faithful friend
- Reliable, trusted, or believed – a dependable person
- Adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate – a faithful account or copy
A faithful person has the attribute of faithfulness integrated in every aspect of their lives. Another way of saying this is a person who is completely faithful is also of complete integrity. They are true in every aspect of their lives. A person that is truly faithful does not compartmentalize the areas of their lives where they choose to be faithful. Being faithful is part of who they are.
Faithfulness also requires that we possess the other attributes/tools in our lives. A faithful person should love unconditionally and be full of joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness. All of these attributes will manifest themselves in a person who is faithful in all areas of life.
As one of my virtual mentors, Zig Ziglar stated, “Faithfulness is an attitude; it speaks of the qualities of trust, reliability, and loyalty.”
We also must understand that a faithful person is not only faithful in the big areas of life but more importantly, the smallest areas of life.
The Bible reinforces this principle in several passages, one of which is Luke 16:10 where Christ tells the parable of the shrewd manager, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”
The principles of faithfulness are clear. Be faithful in all areas, small and large, and in all situations. Your reputation, character, and integrity depend on it.
So how can we learn how to be faithful in all areas of life? If we desire to gain faithfulness, then we must take responsibility to seek out those individuals whose lives exemplify faithfulness.
Other than Christ, there is probably not a person who has ever lived that has been faithful in all areas of life at all times of life, but that does not mean that we can’t learn from others.
- Learn from those who are wealthy and generous on how to be faithful with finances
- Learn from those who have been married for decades on how to be faithful in marriage
- Learn from those who have lifelong friends on how to be faithful in friendship
- Learn from those who have been successful in business for decades on how to be faithful to their vision
- Learn from those who are reliable and keep their word in all areas on how to be a faithful and dependable person
I have observed and learned from many others that have been examples and mentors to me. By doing so, I have gained much wisdom in this area of faithfulness.
As with all things pertaining to wisdom, I have also learned much from the Bible and about God’s faithfulness to me. One passage that exemplifies this faithfulness Lamentations 3:22-24, “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!'”
We see in this passage that God’s faithfulness and love for us never ends. While we will never achieve this level of faithfulness on our life trek, this certainly should be our primary example that we follow.
It is not always easy to be faithful in every area of life, but be faithful anyway.
As with all of the spokes/tools, the attribute of faithfulness is a result of the previous attributes being manifested in our life. So as we lay the foundation stones for a life that is lived abundantly, let us be faithful in all areas of life. Allow these foundation stones to be tightly integrated and connected. Let us build from the strength of unified foundation. This will allow us to live fully, grow in wisdom, and leave a living legacy.
That will finish our podcast/journal for today. Tomorrow we will inspect the tool/attribute of gentleness and the strength that is gained by being a gentle person. 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 in the comment form on Wisdom-Trek.com/day8 or email me at guthrie@venturecg.com.
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Check out Wisdom-Trek.com for the daily journal, 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!