God wants us to care for the blessings we've been entrusted

God entrusts us with much. Talents. Family. Friends. A good mind. Time. Money. Possessions. A vocation. And many more blessings that aren't listed.

God wants the best for us. God wants us to be so much and do fulfill our purpose. Through the Bible we can read about 500 verses on prayer, and fewer than 500 verses on faith, but there are more than 2,500 verses about money and possessions. God wants to guide us on how we should handle the things with which we've been entrusted.

Take a look in the good book if you need help in discerning how to manage your blessings--it's a wonderful guide!

I never realized just how many scripture verses deal with money and possessions. God will provide for our needs, we just have to trust and have a completely balanced life of Stewardship!

Giving of our First Fruits

Have you ever stopped to think how you spend the 24 hours in a day?

What do you allot your 24 hours for each day? This week I'm taking time to take notice of what I'm spending time on so I can become more aware of where I'm wasting time and how I might allot more time to God. Time for God should really be like time for sleep. If you take the 24 hour day, most people would try to allot 6-10 hours for sleeping (some people need more and some less). That's kind of automatic. If we have a job we probably automatically allot 7-10 hours for work (depends on the day, right?).

After I factor in sleep time and work time I'm left over with between 7-9 hours of time to spend on other things...think about how your days are broken up and what are you giving FIRST to God before scheduling in tv time or "play time."

What  are some of the things you give a high priority to? Does prayer time rank there? Just take time to ponder!

Giving of our first fruits is often difficult!

First fruits of time, talent, and treasure. What are first fruits? Giving of what we have before we start divvying it up to give and/or spend in other ways. If we get 24 hours in a day, how much of that time will be spend with God?

We're called if we think about tithing to give 10% of what we have to God. Are we willing to give 144 minutes per day to God. Then we can subtract out however much time we need for sleeping and work/school. Whatever is left is ours. Maybe 10% seems a bit much, so even just giving 1% means giving God 14 minutes each day. Do you give God 1% of your time every day?

What about giving our talents. We may have many gifts and talents, which are given to us to use to glorify God. How can we give of those talents to the building of God's kingdom? We should somehow return gratefully what we have to God.

Lastly, our treasure. Check out this video  and think about what you need versus what you want...

Charles

Holy Thursday. What a powerful message. Jesus serves his disciples through the washing of their feet. Their sinky, dirty, gross feet. Jesus strives to teach us to serve one another. He was the prime example of what it means to be a steward throughout his entire life. How can we continue to stretch ourselves as a steward, with Him as our model?

Photo taken by Carol Malick, 2011 Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper

At the Holy Thursday Mass I attended at St. Anne's in Rittman, OH I heard a story. A very uplifting and beautiful story of a truly ecumenical effort by the many churches in the city. A man named Charles lives in the area and is not well-to-do. He had very little, but strived to stretch himself.

He would visit the churches and talk with the ministers/priests. After visiting St. Anne's several times he left 7 pennies on the altar. Another time he left two sets of 7 pennies, still other times he would leave 3 or 4 sets, all the way up to 7 sets of 7 pennies. Charles felt that 7 was a powerful number.

Charles has a mental health disorder of some kind and has been hospitalized due to it. Instead of the church folks in Rittman feeling relieved that he is getting help and that "he's not our problem anymore" they pitched in and different churches have taken up different collections to help when he gets back into his home. One church was able to cover the cost of a new water heater, another has been able to supply people to re-paint his home. Still others have been cleaning or purchasing a new appliance or two. This community has come together to ensure that when Charles gets home he will have a safe place to live and will not have to worry whether important appliances are going to sputter and die out in the near future.

In the Holy Thursday Gospel (John 13: 1-15) Jesus says"If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."Jesus wants us to do for others what he has done for us. He has given us a model to follow, how will we choose to follow it?

He died for us. He purchased for us eternal salvation. He wants for us to do for others...



On Saturday, April 13 the Journey Together for Justice Ministry through St. Hilary and Faith Lutheran is sponsoring a Day of Service. This is a follow up to the Lenten Speaker Series that was sponsored by the two churches to encourage parishioners to Live the Gospel Message of Matthew 25: The Lord calls us to give food to the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome strangers, clothe the naked, care for the sick and the imprisoned.  Jesus says: "Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me." Consider whether you are able to give some of your valuable time for the least of God's people on this day of service. Sign up online, now!

Having an Attitude of Gratitude

How often does someone ask you "How are you?" and you answer "Fine" even when you aren't fine? What if instead of always answering, "fine" or "good" we always answered "blessed!" No matter what time of day, how lousy you're feeling, or how happy you might be-"blessed" is always a true response about how you are!

I listened to a lecture recently about Stewardship from the Diocese of Witchita and this was one of the ideals that were focused upon. We must be thankful recipients of the gifts God has given us. We also must remember to share our thanks and those gifts with others. 

We are all gifted and talented in a way that God designed for us.  Proudly share the gifts and talents God has given you! Since we're not supposed to be just like anyone else, you have to celebrate what makes you gifted and talented in a different way than your neighbors. Then we can all share with one another to glorify God.

"I assure you, as often as you did it to one of My least brothers, you did it to Me."

From Matthew 25:40, what a challenge. It sounds so cliche, but it's really a tall order to treat everyone as you would treat Jesus. 

I was asked to speak with the junior high youth group members about almsgiving, an important part of Lent that we hope goes deeper than giving of money--to giving of time in prayer, sharing of talents, and also sharing of treasure.

The focus of my sharing with the junior high youth was to discuss and (hopefully) dispel the misconceptions of panhandlers on the street.

I shared with the youth about a column I read back in June, written by Bob Dyer of the Akron Beacon Journal. He had been contacted by fellow Akronites with claims of all sorts of things about panhandlers around the area. Claims included that the panhandlers were dishonest and wouldn't accept an honest day of work when offered it. He set out to write a column proving these claims to be true--he went out with a landlord to find panhandlers and ask if they would like to work doing odd jobs like painting and simple landscaping.

They found five panhandlers--how many do you think would work for the landlord?

::Read on to find out::

The first man they met was in his 30s and eagerly came up to their car. After the landlord explained why they were there the man said he could do cleaning, cooking, and just about anything else.

The second man was a shaggy looking fellow near the University of Akron campus. When approached he said he would also like the opportunity to work: he could paint.

Third, in Montrose, the men saw a woman sitting in front of a gas station. She said she could not work due to a disability, BUT she quickly offered that her husband was great at maintenance jobs and would work for the landlord.

Fourth, they met another man who told them his availability would be limited because he only panhandles on his days off from a menial job at a restaurant, but he was willing and able.

Last, a woman with a limp due to rheumatoid arthritis said she too could lend a hand, she referred to herself as a "jack of all trades."

Moral of the story-don't believe everything you hear, often times we make assumptions based upon generalizations and/or stereotypes. Also, if you are still leery to be generous with a panhandler- consider directing your generosity to different local agencies that support those in need. Then you can feel helpful when you direct people you encounter to different agencies in the Akron area.

A few agencies that can use volunteers and/or monetary support for their missions include:

• Springtime of Hope 
• Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank
• OPEN M 
• Haven of Rest
• International Institute of Akron
• South Street Ministries
• Habitat for Humanity
• Nazareth Housing

11 Exemplary Definitions of Stewardship

 

         Prayer,

        Service &

              Sharing

          Living a way of life that is grateful and responsible for all that God has blessed you with and generously giving of your time, talent, and treasure.

 

                                                                                 

"Having an

attitude

of gratitude"

  

 

       Stewardship is
responding to your
own need to give!

 Stewardship is a way of life,
honoring God in everything
we do with all His gifts.
Living life in a God-centered way,
rather than a self-centered way,
thinking of God first,
before our own wants.

 

       Stewardship is a life-long faith journey that brings us ever closer to Jesus Christ; following the path He so perfectly laid out for us through His life example.

 

Receiving, thanking, 

sharing and praising God 

for the gifts we 

have received.

    

       Stewardship:
Rooted in Gospel
Realized as Gift
Returned in Gratitude

Stewardship is about

our relationship

with God.

    Stewardship is living life with the understanding that someday God will ask each and every one of us what we did with all of His varied gifts.

Stewardship is...
to receive gratefully 
to nurture responsibly
to share justly and charitably 
and to return abundantly.



If you're interested in reading more about what the Bishops of the United States said in their Pastoral Letter on Stewardship, check it out! It's a quick read and gives more specifics pertaining to all of these definitions and MORE!