Day 1123 – The Obstacle in Your Path – Ask Gramps

Published: May 10, 2019, 7:03 a.m.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1123 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
The Obstacle in Your Path - 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, 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 1123 of our Trek and time for our Philosophy Friday series.  Each Friday we will ponder some of the basic 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 where we can ‘Ask Gramps.’   Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, this is not possible.  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 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, tell me a story about how we should handle obstacles that we face in life?
The Obstacle in Your Path
We will all face obstacles along our trek of life that is a fact.  It is how we respond to the obstacles that will make the difference between success and failure. Between a life of satisfaction, and a life of misery.  Let me tell you a story that will illustrate this.

In ancient times, a king had his men place a heavy boulder on one of the main roadways leading into the main city. The king then hid in the bushes, out of view from anyone, and watched to see if anyone would move the boulder out of the way to ease the path for themselves and others. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and lords passed by and with much grumbling and complaining, simply walked around the boulder forcing them to come precariously close to the edge of the road where there was a steep embankment.   Almost everyone blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none of them did anything about getting the stone removed.

After several days of waiting, one day, a peasant came along carrying a heavy load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant looked at the situation and then surprisingly laid down his load and tried to push the stone out of the way. At first, he did not move the boulder much at all.  After much pushing and straining, the peasant found a huge limb that he used as a lever, and he finally managed to push the boulder close enough to the edge, and it tumbled down into a ravine.

Moral of the story: Every obstacle that we come across gives us an opportunity to improve our circumstances, and while the lazy and dissatisfied will complain, others are creating opportunities through their kind hearts, generosity, and willingness to get things done.

We should never begrudge the hard obstacles in life.  If we let them, they will refine us, and make us a better person.James 1:2-4

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Join us again next Friday for another question on our ‘Ask Gramps’ episode.