Many of us think of our working selves as either being in management or being a part of labor. But of course this isn't accurate. Even if you earn your living digging ditches (does anyone earn their living doing that?) you are in management - the management of your time, your body, your income, your family, your free time.
We organize and prioritize. We decide what we need to do first and what can wait until the snow flies. We accept some invitations and decline others (often because they conflict with what we really want to do, like watch the Sunday football game). We are managers.
Therefore, we are stewards: stewards of our time, and social life, and entertainment choices and finances. We are also stewards of God: God's creation, mercy, work in this world, transforming power, love. We make decisions about how much of God's mercy we are going to share with the world; how much of God's work of healing and forgiving; how much of God's transforming love. We decide if we are going to call this stranger in need "brother" or "son". We decide whether this child or co-worker or grocery clerk will taste the forgiveness that we have tasted.
How will someone else come to know the wonder of forgiveness if we do not show them? How can someone seek God for healing unless they first taste and see the healing that has happened in our lives? How can God's workers feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the sick and prisoners unless we financially support their work?
In all things you are a steward. What will your stewardship look like this week?
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