Not pushed, but empowered by love
We have started reading through Proverbs for our daily devotions.
Proverbs has lots of wisdom and good advice -- much to which we ought
to listen. As stewards of God's Kingdom we can use all the wisdom and
good advice on how to care for and nurture and grow this Kingdom, and
how to share and how to live.
But at its heart, stewardship does not flow out of oughts or shoulds,
or even the best of advice. It flows out of the outpoured love of
God. It flows in grateful response to the incredible gifts that we
have given.
When we consider all that God has done for us, all that God has given
us, we just naturally want to say thank you.
When we consider the abundance of what we have been given we just
naturally want to share.
If sometimes we don't know how to say thank you, or sometimes we
aren't sure of the best way to care for all that has been given us,
then we look around for the care instructions like we do with the new
beautiful sweater we got for Christmas. And maybe we come up with
some wisdom from the book of Proverbs, and often we come up with some
wisdom that science has given us for how to care for the earth or how
to grow more or distribute it better to feed all of God's people.
Sometimes we can get so caught up in the advice and the shoulds and
the oughts that we can feel pushed instead of empowered by love. Then
we go back to the source of it all to remember why we do what we do,
why we care and why we share. There is one who first loved us and
gave us everything including life.
Lord, with our lives and with our goods and with
every breath which comes form you, may we give thanks. Amen
Copyright (c)
2005, The Rev. Dana Reardon. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Email her at
mspastor@aol.com.
The Rev. Dana Reardon is pastor at St.
Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Warwick, RI. A lifelong Lutheran, she
came to ordained ministry after 21 years in nursing, mostly in pediatric
intensive care. She graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia in 1998 and served 4 ½ years in Upstate New York before
becoming a New Englander. She is still trying to understand the
accent. While in the Upstate New York Synod she chaired the Stewardship
Team. That began her fascination with what makes stewards -- and more,
what makes for generosity.
She
has three amazing daughters: Pastor Reardon says much of what she knows of
life she learned from them.
