Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1139 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
It's a Jungle Out There – 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, 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 1139 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 praying. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and make 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.
Life is full of twist and turns. At times we can hardly see our way clear, or know what direction to take on our path of life. Life can seem to be an overgrown jungle, and you find yourself lost in all of the entanglements and pressures of life. It reminds me of the theme song for the detective program “Monk” that aired from 2002-2009.
In today’s meditation, let us consider…
It's a Jungle Out There
The story is told of a man on an African safari deep in the jungle. The guide before him had a machete and was whacking away the tall weeds and thick underbrush. The traveler, wearied and hot, asked in frustration, “Where are we? Do you know where you are taking me? Where is the path?!” The seasoned guide stopped and looked back at the man for several long seconds and then replied, “I am the path.”
We ask the same questions, don’t we? We ask God, “Where are you taking me? Where is the path?” And He, like the guide, doesn’t always tell us. Oh, He may give us a hint or two, but that’s all. If He shows us the entire path, would we understand? Would we comprehend our location? No, like the traveler, we are unacquainted with this jungle. So rather than give us an answer, Jesus gives us a far greater gift. He gives us himself. He tells us in John 14:6, "Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.'"
Does He remove the jungle? No, the vegetation is still thick. Does He purge the predators? No, danger still lurks. Jesus doesn’t give hope by changing the jungle; he restores our hope by giving us himself. And he has promised to stay until the very end. We can be confident of this because Jesus told us in Matthew 28:20, "And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
We need that reminder. We all need that reminder. For all of us need hope.
Some of you don’t need it right now. Your jungle has become a meadow and your journey a delight. If such is the case, praise God for his clear path. But remember—we do not know what tomorrow holds. We do not know where this path will lead. You may be one turn from a cemetery, from a hospital bed, from an empty house. You may be a bend in the road from a jungle.
And though you don’t need your hope restored today, you may tomorrow. And you need to know to whom to turn.
Or perhaps you do need hope today. You know you were not made for this place. You know you are not equipped. You want someone to lead you out.