We all know that there’s a difference between borrowing something and owning it. We check out library books for short periods of time, but they’re not ours. They belong to the library. When I rent out an apartment for my time on campus, it is considered “mine” but I know that once my lease ends, I’ll move on to a new place. And when we’re put as a caretaker over something….we literally take care of it. And we’re careful (full of care), because we know that it belongs to someone else and that it has been entrusted to us for a short time. And that’s just the thing….they’ve trusted us with it. To not care for it in the way its owner intended is to break their trust. We should have the same attitude about things God has made us caretaker of and treat them as something lent out to us. But this includes more than our material possessions.
We’re called to be good stewards over relationships with those around us. This extends to our family, friends, significant others, and even acquaintances that slip in and out of our lives. God invites us to bring Him into every friendship that we have made. True friendship seeks the good of the other person. This is also true in dating relationships. This means that if I know that I could never eVER EVER consider marrying the guy I’m dating, then I’m using him physically (his body), emotionally (his heart), and spiritually (his spirit) to meet my needs (whether those needs are to just plain have something to do, to be like all my friends who are in relationships, to increase my self-esteem, or because I don’t want to hurt him by saying “no” to him). And there’s a difference between considering marriage with the guy and knowing I’ll marry him. I should clarify - I won’t always know how something will end up, but by dating someone and engaging in intimacy with him I have to be open to something more. If not, then I must consider whether or not I’m just using him for the time being. And he could be a great guy, but I don’t have to date every great guy…I can be a good friend to him. Friendship is a beautiful thing that God can use if we just let Him.
We are also called to be stewards of our talents and abilities by cultivating them and using them in the service of our Lord rather than keeping them to ourselves. This is something I’ve always struggled with. Because the self-conscious part of me sometimes tells myself that I don’t really have any talents and abilities that could be used in service. I tell myself, “Well, I’m okay at that but…” My hesitance shows my lack of trust that God will not only call me but also equip me. He doesn’t just send me into a battlefield without armor and a shield and expect me to fight. In the same way that Moses was instructed to use his staff to divide the Red Sea, so will slowly God reveal to us how we can use our talents and abilities (essentially, what He’s equipped us with) to carry out his Will.
And most of all, God desires that we’d be good stewards of our time (because that includes everything else). Time as in our whole lifespan. Time as in each moment we are given. And to be a good steward of our time all goes back to this “everything is Yours” idea. This perspective changes our reactions to everything we experience –whether it be loss, rejection, anything we suffer. We are able to see the beauty that lies in and beyond our experiences. And that truth is, if we truly believe this and give our time here over to God to use however He wishes, we will be so much more at peace. Because then, when my dad stops me from heading out the door to give me a lecture right when I’m running late to a meeting with a friend…I can embrace him and what he’s saying rather than dismiss him so I can do “my own thing.” And then, when a friend of mine is going through a difficult break-up and is rambling on and on about the person they care about, instead of seeing my time spent with them as me setting aside “my own time to help out a friend” I can see it as an opportunity to love and support.
And it’s not that everything is only God’s and not ours. We cooperate with God’s plan by accepting Him into our life. Our family, friends, material blessings, skills are gifts of His love. They’re things that are not entirely ours, but not something God shares with us to help us. He loves to share everything that is His with us. We were made to share in Him – His love, His glory, His kingdom. God wants me to make this life on earth my own but asks that I look beyond this life and recognize its temporal nature. That I have a heart that’s willing to fully give back.
Knowing that I am a steward can change my perspective on everything. And ultimately, this gives me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. God fills me with the gifts of the spirit. How beautiful – to know that when I recognize that I am only a steward of these things, God is able to fill me all the more and prepare me for that eternal union with Him in His kingdom.
Sometimes we feel bad when people that were once close to us now have a new friend. We feel like we’ve been replaced. “She was my friend first”, we remark. But if we appreciate what a great gift that person is, we are not only willing but want to share them with the world around us.
St. Therese of Leiseux is such a great example of someone who lived as though nothing was her own (She’s really just a great example in general). She embraced poverty, knowing that everything we have is a blessing. St. Therese became indifferent to claiming even credit for her ideas and feelings.
She once said, “If I told a sister some enlightenment that came to me in prayer and if she later disclosed it as if it were hers, I was inclined to think she had stolen my property.”
St. Therese calls it a pathetic human weakness.
“If I think of something and speak about it and the other sisters like the idea, I find it quite natural that they should grab it as if it belonged to them, for such a thought is the Holy Ghost’s not mine.”
What a beautiful attitude! May God help us to be true stewards of His blessings - never seeking to store up what we consider valuable, but letting go and looking always to Him and to His promise.
