managing life

So this week it was my week to teach the kid's lesson in our small group.
One of the things I have been pondering lately is stewardship.
Which is such a King James word. Or a Love Boat word.
I think Gopher was the ship's steward. I know it wasn't Isaac.
He was the bartender. But I digress....
we rarely use the word "steward" in our every day life.
I always think of being a good steward as how I care for what I have.
How I manage what is mine. But I looked it up and it means
"a person who manages another's property or financial affairs."
And that seems very different. Stewardship takes ownership out of my hands and simply asks how I am managing all that God has placed on my plate.
So the kids and I were chatting about the parable of the servants
and the five talents. I handed out props and the kids acted it out.
Except for Addison. After he received his two talents he left and went
to play with his Lightening McQueen car.
I believe the favorite line of the play was when the master told
the servant who buried his talent, "You wicked and lazy servant!
you should have a least put my money in the bank so it could earn
interest. Now you will be cast out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth."
That is high drama in Sunday School.
The low point of the lesson would be when I asked the kids to draw pictures
of their talents or the things that God wanted them to manage well
and Jack drew a picture of his talents in the area of gas.
This was upsetting to me both as a mother and a sunday school teacher.
In my view, there is no proper management of gas in God's eyes.
But Jack and the other kids thought his bodily function picture was fantastic.
And I'm not sure if they got a real good handle on stewardship at that point.
So I quickly brought the lesson to a close with the bead stringing craft and a
laser beam look from my eyes to Jack's, to let him know I wasn't down with
gas in my sunday school lesson. Inappropriate.
But I'm still pondering the thought of how I am doing with what God is
letting me take care of on his behalf. The good, the bad and the ugly.
If I am actually thinking that what I hold in my hands
whether it is a small boy with a Lightening McQueen car, a $10 bill or
an opportunity to hang out with a friend, is something that God has given
me to manage...it changes everything.
Because I need to be framing my life around the question,
"What does the one I serve, who I manage for, want me to do with this?
And what will he say about it when he gets back
and checks in with me about my management skills?"
Because truly, I do want to manage my life to meet his expectations.
And I would love to be wise in all that he has given me.
And I prefer not to be cast out with the people who gnash their teeth.
That would not be pleasant.
And it seems that God is looking for people who are willing to invest
what he has given them and get a healthy return on it.
And I would like to be one of those people.
Except in the area of gas.