A classic movie about Mozart, Amadeus, contained a cryptic line from the king when he heard one of Mozart's social commentary operas, "Too many words." We try so hard to describe spiritual things and the more we try the more tangled up we get in "too many words." Can we make it simple?
For me, the life of a steward starts with a specific point of view, that there is a supreme being whom I call God, and that being is active as creator, sustainer, and redeemer. That belief, or a desire for that belief, is the starting point for determining everything about who I think I am and how I live my life.
If God is creator, sustainer, and redeemer, then everything comes from God and belongs to God. I'm part of a picture. Without me the picture isn't complete. Without the picture, I'm a displaced person. When I understand myself in that context, I see that there is an appropriate use for everything that comes into my life. That use is the one that helps complete the picture. My life's work is to find out and carry out those things that help make the picture complete.
I have been given a mind, a body, emotions, financial resources, the earth on which I live, and certain material goods that came from that earth. I've also been given a sphere of influence. These things aren't ME, these things are the gifts I have been given to do my work. My gifts aren't ends in themselves, they are means to an end. I'm not the garden, I'm the gardener.
That's how I see it today. But this spiritual journey is an ever evolving thing. Maybe next year I can get it down to one paragraph.
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