Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1383 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Invest Your Time Wisely – Ask Gramps
Wisdom - the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.
Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase wisdom and create a living legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1383 of our trek, and it is time for our Philosophy Friday series. Each Friday, we ponder some of the fundamental truths and mysteries of life and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.
As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time when we can “Ask Gramps.” Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, you are unable to. No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask Dad or Gramps questions about life in many areas.
We may mix it up a bit on our Friday episodes, but we will strive to keep them down to earth and enjoyable. If you have any questions that you would like to ask Gramps, please email them to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com.
So the question for this week is…
“Hey, Gramps, once life and the economy get back to some sort of normalcy after the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, what is the best way that I can make an impact on my world? I don’t think that the world will be quite the same, and I want to make sure that I can make a positive difference, how best should I approach life after this pandemic.”
Invest Your Time Wisely
After the events of the past couple of months, I think that most of us would like to rush out and make a significant impact on our world…To fix everything that is broken. To help all those who are hurting or may have been devastated. I feel confident that most of us want to do some great things with our lives. But we labor under the illusion that genuinely great things are reserved for a chosen few—those who are heroes, martyrs, and saints. Deep inside us, we probably don’t feel that you and I are the ones who can.
What if the most extraordinary thing is not to go out in a blaze of glory, but to honor God with a life that seeks to do his will in the little things? Not to climb the highest mountain, but to stay on the uneven course that life has marked out for you? Not dying for your faith, but staying true to it over a challenging lifetime? Think of the word I just mentioned, extraordinary. If we break that compound word down, it is extra and ordinary. What if we do the mundane, ordinary tasks of life, with just a little more passion and concern? That ordinary will become extraordinary.
Think of the 24-hour blocks of your daily life as bank-fresh bundles of 24, $100 bills. Your challenge each day is to “invest your time.” You can’t bank it. You can’t save up until you get $50,000 or $100,000. You get a fresh handful of life currency each morning, and any uninvested balance evaporates before tomorrow comes.
You invest life assets when you mentor a new employee or associate who is struggling. You invest when you listen to a friend who is upset or volunteer to help someone who needs just that little extra assistance. You invest when you are laying down your life when you are generous with hard-earned money to help someone who has lost his or her job, or a family that is being drained by long-term illness, or the ministries of your church that help those less fortunate.
If you are a parent or grandparent, you have invested a considerable portion of your life in giving birth, praying through your tears for a struggling child, and investing all the time, energy, and passion that go into molding a life for what lies ahead in this challenging world.
You are investing your life capital by putting your love for a fiancée, or spouse, or child above career advancement that moves you from spiritual stability. You are investing your life capital by not taking a job that calls for you to invest far too much time away from people who need you more than money. You are investing your life capital by not staying in a job that calls for you to compromise some central value which goes against your integrity and worldview. Think about it, every morning, when you rise, you have today’s life capital in hand. You must invest it wisely!
The Bible says, "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters," 1 John 3:16.
Could it be that some people who seek after recognition would prefer to die in bold, heroic moments? That is to say, “cash in” everything instead of investing small amounts of time in others? They don’t grasp that we must invest the smaller increments of our lives in unselfish, other-directed events that honor God by serving the people He has placed on our way daily. We need to develop a concept of serving God by serving those created as his image-bearers. Instead of a grand show, let us daily invest in small ways, in small increments, and in unseen circumstances that add up to an eternal difference in the lives of others. You have today’s life capital in hand. Invest it wisely — in small increments of unselfishness here and there. If you don’t, you will lose it completely.
The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is a wrap for today’s question. Join us again next Friday for another question on our Ask Gramps episode. Our next trek is Mediation Monday where we will help you reflect on what is most important in life. 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.
If you would like to listen to any of the past 1382 daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.
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.
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
I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you on Monday!