Intentional Stewardship

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Thank you for taking time to read this, I hope it is worth your time.  We only have 24 hours a day, and if we are living a healthy life, about eight of those hours are spent sleeping. How do you spend the other 16? I have, in the past, led people thought a process of examining (not just a day, but) a week of hours, to determine how they spend their time. It is a way to examine what you actually place value in; similar to examining your finances to create a budget it can help you be intentional about the way your precious time is spent. It's interesting to compare things like how much time is spent watching TV verses how much time is spent in prayer. That may lead to pondering what might be influencing your decisions.

The question about time comes up for me, because in my work I am reminded that our time is not infinite; not in this way: the familiar, earthly pilgrimage. It's part of a broader awareness that everything we have is a gift from God. This breath I am breathing is a gift. This moment I am alive is a gift. Even the opportunities, education, and health that made it possible for me to work are all gifts. The question is, what am I doing with all these gifts? How do I respond to what has been given to me? 

This is a question of stewardship, and becoming aware of the gifts God has given us is probably the first step in living a life of intentional stewardship. In the parable of the talents, Jesus teaches about two stewards who use what they have been given, and create more resources with them. The poor example of stewardship is the steward who buries what he's been given out of fear. When we make decisions from a place of fear, we tend to hold back and hide our gifts. When we remember that nothing, ultimately, is ours, and that we are the stewards only for a time, it might change how we approach everything. 

I fall into that fearful place from time to time, and I am not always the best steward; usually when I have those moments, I will go for a run and see an amazing sunrise or pass the Gratitude sign and it snaps me back to remembering what a gift it is to be alive, to live where I live, to be pastor of this great church, and to be able to share in the stewardship of this wonderful island. Gratitude and Intentional Stewardship seem to go hand-in-hand. When I am grateful for the gifts I've been given, I tend to be a better steward of those gifts. I tend to use them in a way that creates opportunity for others. I tend to use more of my gifts, instead of hiding them away in fear. Thank you for taking time to read this, I hope it was worth your time. 

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