Stewardship

I'm sitting here at home waiting for my small group to arrive as we continue through the "Balanced" series (part 2) that we've been moving through at Buckhead Church, watching the drama of the inauguration, and reading up on some materials for work on Tuesday.  In that process, a couple of things hit me:

1.) Obviously, when you hear the word "stewardship" in a church/Christian setting most people automatically assume that you're talking about tithing, giving to the church, etc.... but it's not really what the word means.  It really is a realization that while you possess talents, money, time, career, etc. that you aren't the owner of those things.  Instead, they are, on loan from God.  Wouldn't it make sense that if we truly grasped that, the way we used the stuff, time, etc. we had would change... or would it stay the same?  As I was looking through my spending for this week, I imagine that I'd make a few adjustments... like fewer "go out and pick up stuff" lunches and instead bringing food from home that's both healthier and easier on the budget :-).  

2.) Watching the news about Barak Obama's upcoming swearing in on Tuesday and President Bush's farewell speech, I really saw this in the way President Bush viewed the Presidency... Regardless of the how I viewed his decisions (some favorable, some not so much), I was really impressed by the sense he gave that he realized that the Presidency has been given to him by the American people and how he knew that he was a steward of that office.  One thing he said about 9/11 was (paraphrasing) "Most of your lives after that event went back to normal, but not mine."  You see, the President gets the threat reports briefed to him every day and our current President (Bush), like him or hate him, felt the weight of the responsibility he had to make sure a 9/11 never happened again on his watch.  He knew that he couldn't afford to make politically expedient decisions at the expense of the safety of the American people, and to that end I admire the courage of the man leaving the office.  I do hope that our incoming president views his new job in the same way.  

3.) Preparing for training on Tuesday for work, I've been reading a few books that are core to my company's philosophy... one being "Raving Fans" by Ken Blanchard (a good read written in parable form about how to really do customer service) and "The Go Getter" by Peter B. Kyne... and older book written about a test given to a prospective head of a 1910's-era lumber merchant's East Asia division.  These both gave me a great impression of the DNA of the place that I have a stewardship in serving... in being a steward of my customer's clients trust and of the company culture itself.  These two books' common denominator were about developing a relentless focus on serving the people (and companies) that have given their trust to us by pursuing a buying relationship... and ensuring that what we deliver and the trust we share is consistently maintained and consistently improved by a.) understanding what we steward for our clients and becoming excellent at it and b.) ensuring that we passionately continue to invest in those relationships and never take that trust for granted.  It is not really a surprise to find that, companies and business leaders who think like this and strive to create environments that foster this mentality are far more successful than others.  

The truth is, God is the owner and we are merely managers.  Something Ahab (from my quiet time) did not understand too much as he lusted after Naboth's vineyard, took possession of it illegitimately, and in the process lost the dynasty that he was a steward of (one generation later).  In knowing that, shouldn't we view our stuff with open hands rather than clenched fists?  What would it look like if we viewed our "possessions" as an opportunity to serve others versus accumulation?  I imagine that we'd see a little bit of a cultural shift... and perhaps we as Americans would personally have a few more "Raving Fans" in our circle of influence :-).