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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1208 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Managing Your Expectations - 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 1208 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,  I realize that I am not perfect, but I do try to live according to God’s precepts found in His Word.  I expected that life would become easier as I grow older and gained more wisdom.  It seems at times though that life remains difficult in many areas.”
Managing Your Expectations
First of all, as with all situations in life, it is not as much as what happens to us, as to how we deal with those situations.   It is about how you manage your expectations about what comes your way, whether it is good, or not so good.  Learning to be content in all situations will allow you to face life with confidence, knowing that God is in control.

The Apostle Paul learned to manage his expectations and to be content, although life was not always easy.  He wrote in Philippians 4:11-13  Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.  For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

The Apostle Paul certainly didn’t live a carefree life all the time. He knew though that God’s light was shining through him.  He describes going through times of being pressed on every side, perplexed, hunted down, knocked down, yet he knew that it was all for a greater good.   Most of us who knows God’s Word consider Paul to have been a strong Christian, so why did he continue to suffer?  Certainly, as mentioned above, there were good times, but also bad times.  We as Christ-followers are not necessarily exempt.Despite experiencing a great deal of suffering, Paul managed his life and expectations.  He was not driven to despair.  He knew that God never abandoned him.  He was not destroyed.   He knew that he shared in the life of the risen Christ, and that made it all worthwhile.

Paul doesn’t downplay or deny suffering in the least, but he knows that suffering does not have the final word, God does.  Without our suffering, we would not fully appreciate God’s great salvation.   It would be more difficult to trust in God, because we would be trusting in self.  So while the difficult times hurt, they are not without meaning.

When you know that God is absolutely wise, faithful, and loving,