Stewardship

Was pondering stewardship on the way down the hill after lunch. You see, salaries here were not paid on time this month (thank goodness I arranged for mine to be done early!) because of a bit of a slip-up in transfering covering funds. A lot of the staff are panicking, as if they were about to starve or the world were caving in.

And perhaps for some it is.

You see, a lot of people live salary to salary, buying themselves into debt, living on the edge and never planning well in advance. Some are near retiring and can't afford not to work. Many are think (maybe without realizing it) "well, the world's about to end so why store up treasures on earth", and they don't. They don't even store things up until a few months from now.

Which makes me wonder where stewardship comes into things.

As Christians, we're taught to be "good stewards", but how many of us put that into daily practice? How many of us (Christian and not) do any kind of management of what we have? Cash is only one aspect, but the one I'm thinking of here. We live on the edge, spending indiscriminately on things to give us pleasure, or getting into debt because we simply MUST have that new house/car/whatever - right down to the small impulsive buys of a bar of chocolate or new shoes or a meal out.

We're not being good stewards of our finances, and that's only the beginning.

On the way back from lunch I passed a tin can, a KFC bag, a piece of styrofoam, a tissue and a few chip packets lying next to the road. There goes the stewardship of the environment too! (A whole other, lengthy post - not for this afternoon)

I picked up an interesting thought from someone in blogland this week about Christians trying to help the environment, but then requiring church members to drive to the church for events many times a week - and in the process adding to the pollution from cars! Never thought of that one...!

I wonder how many folk would take kindly to an offer of stewardship help (not from me, but from one who knows what it's all about). Or if they'd see it as interfering in their matters, being nosey. True, many folk need it desperately! But I doubt they'd take up the offer. They are not only stuck in a paycheque to paycheque existence, but actually like it.

I'm not one to preach, we've had a few harsh years where that cash on payday was a monthly lifesaver. But it's something I'm thinking about, in line with my desire to Do Good to those around me, to help where I can - and even where I think I can't.

Stewardship is a bigger word than you'd imagine.