Sweet Stewardship

by Laurie Ness

Though I haven't agreed with her every word, I'm often inspired by the life and words of the dear woman known as Mother Teresa.  She makes me think of sweetness, a quality that appears to be more and more lacking in our world. She seems to have had an incredible balance of sweetness and a no-nonsense approach to life.  Talk about a good steward!  From my readings on the life of this remarkable woman, my conclusion is that she wasted little, if anything.

And I'm not just talking about any money or material goods she ever possessed!

When we hear the word "stewardship," it's easy to think of money--how to spend it, how to save it, how to give it.  While this is a very important aspect of stewardship, I think I'll refer you to the brilliant Dave Ramsey for further study on that subject and focus here instead on some of the other areas of stewardship the Bible encourages us to take seriously.

Our time.  Time is an extremely easy thing to waste, isn't it?  Are we even conscious of all the means we have available to us that waste time, especially in this day and age?  Many of these activities are not wrong in and of themselves, but anything that consumes too many of our minutes or hours to the detriment of what we should be doing is a problem.

Keeping a time journal each day is an enlightening way to see the whole picture of how our time is spent.  When we pinpoint activities that are time-wasting traps for us, we know exactly what to watch out for.  It is helpful to many women to create a daily schedule, plotting out the entire day on paper, including some "down time" to spend on enjoyable activities.  Quite like making a money budget, a time budget allows one to accomplish all the necessary things while allowing a reasonable amount of guilt-free time to relax.  "Teach us to number our days, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12.  We aren't guaranteed tomorrow . . . we need to make the most of our time!

Our words.
      "Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."   Mother Teresa

I truly dislike, hate even, how I feel after my own careless words.  As a mom, I find that I have that feeling much more than I ever did before.  Frustrating days make it easy for me to let my guard down and just let loose with my words without filtering them through love and wisdom.  I don't call my son names or curse at him, but some of my careless words probably do just as much harm, just a little more subtly, gradually.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my rock and my Redeemer"  Psalm 19:14

Maybe you don't have children, but perhaps there are people in your life who annoy or irritate you?  Or maybe there is no one who, in your opinion, is worth the effort to carefully choose your words.  I would encourage you (and myself) to speak kindly to everyone, whether or not we feel they deserve it!  This, of course, does not mean we don't need to hold people accountable when necessary.  But this can be done with love and kindness as well.  God wants us to be careful in our speech!

Our opportunities.  God has something for us to do for Him every day!  Even days we never leave our homes are full of opportunities-- to minister to our families, spend time praying for everyone we can think of, study Scripture, write notes of encouragement, and many others.  Do we take the time when we wake up in the morning to offer our day up to Him, offering to joyfully do whatever He asks of us?

In Ephesians 5, we are told to, "Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (verses 15-16)

It's hard to think about what might be lost because of our wasted opportunities, but it's no better to choose to call something an opportunity from God when we are actually bent on doing something outside His will.  May we learn to willingly "tune in" to what God has for us to do and determine ourselves to walk where He leads, not veering off His path in any direction!