Approaching

I recently accomplished a bucket list experience and gained some new insight. My Labor Day weekend 2013 was spent in San Francisco attending to the many matters involved in a family reunion. 

The time and location for this reunion coincided with the official opening of the new Bay Bridge, a global project for which my brother played a key role as engineer and project manager. This is a significant accomplishment when one considers the urgency of replacing the current bridge that could not withstand the next major earthquake.

The decision to support my brother came a few years ago—I knew I had to celebrate this pinnacle of his career and affirm a relationship that grew out of ashes. 

Due to VIP status, the opportunity to drive across this new magnificent bridge, before it was open to the public, was the privilege of only a few. Added to this privilege was the depth of my love for this brother who graciously brought healing to what was broken between us. 

Crossing the bridge at night; led by my brother, with my certificate of permission on the dashboard, unaided by security, dodging construction vehicles, slowly traversing the magnificent, beautiful and unique structure, was an experience that parallels how I should approach my God and career. 

Approaching God daily can become mundane; almost routine—similar to picking up the phone and calling for appointments to raise support. 

With as much emotion, awe, and fresh experience as crossing the new bridge—this is how I must prepare my mind, heart and soul to approach a God who is renewing, healing, forgiving and delivering grace everyday. Can I do this? Can you do this? In our daily activities of work and play, we should pay attention to the approach we take with stillness before God, with reading the scriptures and whispering our prayers, with preparing for conversations involving our work with clients, with relationships at home and work. 

God leads, freely and openly, to a place of magnificent beauty. Join me in learning to approach God, work, and all of life appropriately.  

Hospitality takes first place

Do either charity or hospitality have any part in living intentionally as a faithful steward? 

For me, being charitable comes more easily than being hospitable. Kindness, warmth, empathy and encouragement all come to mind and action easily when meeting people. When the opportunity to "entertain a stranger" comes along, my inclination is to be friendly and encouraging but I'm not sure I'm hospitable.

God's abundance is sufficient for all things, including interactions with others. By definition, to be hospitable is to be charitable, generous and sustaining of a friendly environment.  For me the question becomes how much time and energy am I willing to invest to create the sustaining environment? Do I trust God enough to provide the time and resources to be hospitable in such a way that God would be pleased?

Stewardship is so much more than what I give from my checkbook—that is the minimum, the easy part. Let's learn hospitality and not settle for charity. 

Stewarding shalom

Shalom is not an easy word to define if you depend on the English language for clarification.  I think the closest anyone has come is by using the phrase, "God's peace." A recent sermon on Jehovah Shalom (“the Lord is peace”) from the Old Testament prompted my "wonderings" about stewarding shalom. 

Shalom is given from God; it is His gift to us along with grace. A sense of shalom is captured in the beauty of creation, when all seems "right in the world," when reconciliation and renewal are evident. Still, even with our glimpses of shalom, it is so much more than we can see. It is spiritual, emotional and physical in its manifestation. I've written here previously about oikonomia, the concept of managing God's abundance to us.  Perhaps the essence of oikonomia includes stewarding shalom.

Stewarding shalom means participating in activities that bring peace, reconciliation, insight, deeper understanding and complete acceptance. Stewarding shalom is wise use of time and energy; taking in the surroundings, noticing the details, surrendering the pressure, listening to the still small voice. I find shalom after the conversations I didn't want to have, marveling at the variety of people I meet each day as well as arriving home from a business trip.  Discovering how to "take charge of stewarding shalom" is another one of the paradoxes for me. I find rest in knowing that truly “taking charge” is best accomplished by putting God in charge. 

Hospitality! Is that also something to be stewarded? Maybe I’ll probe that next time. Stay tuned.

Pair of ducks?

I love paradoxes. I enjoy explaining them to young people with the use of my favorite riddle. 

Question: What gets larger the more we take away from it? (Answer below)

Paradoxes help me grasp difficult concepts; I just don't always embrace them fully.

I believe the Scriptures are full of examples of paradoxes.

Take affirmation for example. Affirmation only comes when we surrender our self-image to God and identify ourselves as image bearers of God. Then my self-image has definition and significance.

Now think about freedom. I have often given the example of a fish in a fishbowl when explaining about the paradox of freedom. If the fish in a fishbowl desires to jump out into the larger world, the fish obviously surrenders to death. Accepting the boundaries of the glass fishbowl actually bring freedom and life. Accepting my circumstances as a gift from God versus my own selfish ambitions frees me to serve him more fully and gratefully.

The idea of paradox applies to managing God's abundance too. Learning to give freely is also paradoxical: Abundant living is actually a result of abundant giving.

Answer: A hole

Where is your line?

Like many I have encountered along the way, the question of how much is enough has become a common thread of conversations pertaining to stewardship, philanthropy, tithing and generosity.

My recent trip to the Q conference in LA provided helpful insight. If the goal is to learn to not live in excess of generosity, then determining the line of "enough" is necessary.

I really appreciated the challenge presented by Jeff Shinabarger, Founder of GiftCardGiver.com: "Is generosity possible in an age of self?"

In a culture that successfully convinces us that we always need to have more, it is important for us to learn to shed the excess of our lives. Imagine the continuum of suffering, enough and excess. We can more easily assess the difference between want and need when we realize that “want” is anything greater than enough, and “need” those things that reduce our suffering and bring us closer to the line of enough.

When we choose to live with less, we stop living in excess of generosity and we stop the cycle of want more, spend more, get more.

Experience matters more than acquiring.

A really lovely experience just two weeks ago; listening to a younger man express gratefulness for how blessed he is. In contrast to a culture of entitlement, this experience stands out as one of the top fund raising stories of the past 7 years. After completing medical school, residency and landing in a spot just right for him, he chooses to impact the lives of others similar to him before acquiring the new home and starting the family. Not sure who had greater joy that day; the giver or the listener? 

Is there an app for that?

Remember the school days when the guest speaker came to give a care-for-the-earth pep talk? That’s when I started turning off the water while brushing my teeth and feeling guilty for long showers. Conserving water is a good thing; it’s environmentally conscious and it fosters responsible stewardship. The pep talk gave us the awareness and motivation we needed to take action in this area.

My wife and I recently purchased an ’09 Camry, complete with onscreen monitoring of our gas usage. While traveling through the city and down the highway, this vehicle records and reports our usage. My driving habits have been significantly impacted by this immediate feedback—my acceleration has slowed, I roll to a stop far in advance, and I find myself setting the cruise control lower. The feedback (and subsequent personal goal setting) has had an amazing influence on my driving. I’m conserving fuel like never before, and I’m highly motivated to increase my miles per gallon with every new tank.

It makes me wonder: What if there was an app for my stewardship of God’s abundance to me? If my iPhone recorded my daily efforts at sharing my wealth, would that awareness make me more motivated? And is this motivation the appropriate motivation?

The end results of my changed driving habits are positive in so many ways, carrying me another step in learning to manage God’s abundance to me. Overall, I like this modern day shift in consciousness towards stewardship. How about you?