Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1239 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
In Comparison – Meditation Monday


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, 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 1239 of our Trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday.  Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy.  For you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection.  You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and in prayer.  It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and making sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body.  As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you, too, will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind.

 Many feel that the trials they face and the struggles they go through are overwhelming.  Maybe you feel that way today?  In our meditation today, let us consider:
In Comparison
We all face trials and struggles.  Of course, the trials and struggles that we go through personally always seem greater to us than what others may be going through.  It’s like the saying I once heard, most surgery is minor surgery, unless it is surgery that you must have.  Yes, we do face trials, hardships, struggles and difficult times in our lives.  It may be physical, emotional, financial, relational, or spiritual, but they seem difficult to us.  The question I must ask, though, they are difficult in comparison to what?  Most struggles that we face are not life-threatening.  If you fail financially, while the struggle is real and difficult, you can work your way through it, even if it takes a number of years.  Many struggle emotionally, and yet through God’s Word, and with the help of others those challenges can be overcome.  You may have relationship issues, but they can be worked through, no matter how desperate the situation appears when you are in the midst of it.  If you are in spiritual conflict, through God’s Word and prayer, you can overcome it.  Even if you do face life-threatening physical illness, accident, or persecution, the struggle is very real, and yet we must ask, in comparison to what?

Think about the struggles that the Apostle Paul went through as he proclaimed God’s kingdom.  In 2 Corinthians 11:22-28, he describes this.  Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.  Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again.  Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.  I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.  Then, besides all this,