Happy Friday, Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious first Friday of 2024 in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊
Merriam-Webster defines stewardship as, “2 : the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.” Most of us, when we think of stewardship, we think of money. This morning I want to challenge us to consider our stewardship in a couple of different areas.
O.K., I want to be fully transparent here…I find this fascinating! What is on my mind is time, talent, and treasure. I wanted to provide some context for you all, so I went searching for information about the origin of the phrase. Did you know that the phrase “time, talent, and treasure” is not in the Bible? I didn’t. According to one website I read, the phrase first appeared in print in 1845. Many attribute it to the parable of the Good Samaritan stating, “The expression Time, Talent and Treasure possibly derives from The Parable of the Good Samaritan. He gave his time to help the man, he used his talents to tend to the man's wounds and he gave his money (treasure) to pay for the man's lodging.” In more recent times, it is frequently used in reference to giving. Learningtogive.org states it this way: “Philanthropy is about generosity in all its many forms, commonly referred to as gifts of ‘time, talent, and treasure.’” So interesting!
In any event, getting back on track here, let’s talk about the stewardship – “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care” – of our time and talent.
Are we stewarding our time well? It is the most valuable of all our resources because we never get it back…we are literally exchanging our life for the thing(s) we spend time doing. If we were to really take inventory of how we are spending our time, would we be happy with what we found? Is how we are spending our time fostering better relationships with our family and friends? Is it leading us to our goals? Are we better people, spouses, parents, children, leaders, and friends because of how we spend our time? If the answer to any of these questions is no, perhaps we want to intentionally change how we are spending our life, uh, time!
How about this one, are we stewarding our talents well? Within each one of us is some talent…are we doing everything we can to develop it, to become all we are capable of becoming? If not, why not? Please, whatever your talent may be, develop it. I promise you; it will be used in profound ways to positively impact others if we allow it to do so. And keeping it real for a moment, good stewardship of a talent is not letting it sit dormant, undeveloped. We weren’t given the abilities we have been given to not use them!
Time, talent, and treasure…we have all been given some of each. I pray that we will all steward them well!
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your family, and please stay well! 😊
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