Stewardship

Today was stewardship Sunday at our church; the one day each year when we talk about what God has to say about being an obedient and cheerful giver to support His ministries through our church and other avenues. As I listened to the passages I began to think about other things that we are blessed with besides monetary gifts. As unique individuals, God has given each one of us a set of characteristics that make us who we are. If we apply the guidelines for giving back a portion of our monetary gifts to our personal gifts, what would it look like. As far as God and church goes it doesn't need to be said that we are to use our personal gifts or talents to build the fellowship of the body of Christ and aid the ministries and needs of our church family. But I think we can take it a little further...often we become guarded and maybe even selfish with the parts of us that are the most vulnerable and fragile. We hide our selves in an effort to protect our ego from being bruised, or our feelings from being hurt or even keep our emotions from being seen in case we look "silly" to someone else. The problem comes in when we hide those parts of our personality and soul from the folks we care about the most. But, who are we really hurting? What kind of blessings are we missing because we can't or won't let our wall down so we can share ourselves with those around us and experience the gifts they have to offer? Sure, we may be hurt or laughed at but maybe God has something else planned for us. What if we keep those walls up and never experience hurt or embarrassment or love or friendship because of it? Are we being good stewards of the gifts God has given us? I don't think so because the rewards of putting ourselves out there in the line of fire and maybe finding a friend or connecting with someone we love can be many, many times greater than anything we can experience if we stay protected behind our wall and never take a chance. God gave us those personal gifts for a reason; I think part of that reason was so that through giving joy and blessing others through our humble gifts, our spiritual joy will be multiplied back to us making us more effective for Christ. All the while our own personal joys and blessings growing to heights we could never have dreamed of or thought that we could never deserve. Joys that make the painful, lonely or stressful times a lot easier to handle.

So here's an assignment...make yourself a list...an honest list of all the things you have to offer those around you. Open yourself up, take a risk by investing yourself in people you care about, give back the gifts that God has given you by blessing someone else. Who knows, maybe you'll find a lifetime of love or a treasure chest of blessings just waiting for you on the other side of the wall.