The fresh air that we breathe each day, the sun that shines so brightly, the occasional rains that quench our crops and our lawns, and the wind that blows from all directions; these marvels of our lives and of nature are things that most of us out in Southwest Kansas take for granted. Okay, perhaps not the rains as we continue to struggle to adequately water our lands, but certainly the clean air, the bright sun, and the blowing winds are things that we don’t stop to give much thought to after a while.

Our lives as Christian stewards are often like nature. We tend to take those gifts God has blessed each of us with for granted, and we fail to appreciate the magnitude of these gifts and how we as Christian stewards are called to share them with others. We are allowing not only the gifts of nature, but also the talents and treasure and time that God has blessed us with to exist around us without any conscious recognition. Again, like the rain, this is sometimes not the case and we do stop to appreciate the generosity of our Lord in our daily lives. However, many of us are allowing stewardship and its many benefits to pass us by as we struggle with the mundane activities of daily living.

As we enter this Easter season and celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus and His return to God the Father, perhaps now would be a good time to renew our gratitude to God for the many blessings we have received, and be more aware of those gifts He has shared in our lives. When we see the sun shining brightly, when we feel the winds blowing briskly, and when we hear rains beginning to fall, we can not only celebrate these gifts of nature, but we can also be reminded that God has blessed each of us with charisms and gifts uniquely our own. It is if and when we choose to share these gifts that we will actively steward our gifts for the benefit of others, and not allowing stewardship to pass us by. We will not be taking our Lord’s generosity for granted, we will truly be Christ’s disciples, and we will be sharing generously as our God has shared generously with us.

Recently, I attended my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday celebration. She was joined by many family and friends who came together to help her celebrate the day. During Mass that morning, the pastor suggested that her involvement in serving funeral dinners was likely the longest running continuous ministry in the parish. She is always involved in activities at the church, the hospital, the schools, and with friends, and it was evident that day that these people whose lives she has touched in these various activities wanted to help her celebrate this special day. Stewardship has not passed these people by, rather because of their involvement they have been the active stewards that we are all called to be.

Taking a look back on that day and many other days of celebration, it gives me the opportunity to think about how important these relationships with family, with friends, and with God are. There are times when we take our family for granted — they’ll always be there for us, our friends — they’ll always be there for us, and we take for granted that God will be there for us as well. Is that the case, though? Can we expect these people and our God to be there for us if we are not willing to be there for them? It reminds me of the saying "It’s better to give than to receive." In the case of stewardship and in our relationships with those we love, if we give freely and without expectation, we will receive far more than we can give.

One of the vital ways in which we can utilize our time is to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of our lives each day to pray, to ask God to guide our lives and our activities. One of the ways we can utilize our time is to spend it with family and friends, especially those who are ill and in failing health, and to celebrate these milestones.

Living stewardship as a way of life is not an elusive goal, but rather is something that many of us find difficult, if not impossible, to grab onto and hold firmly in our hands. This stewardship journey we are trying to grab onto will always be right on the tips of our fingers, but will always be something we will have to work at and strive toward. If we make the conscious effort to discern our gifts and to recognize the wonders of nature around us, we will not be allowing stewardship to pass us by, for we will be right in the middle of this stewardship journey. Just as the winds are a gift from God, so too are the time, talents and treasures of our lives. All of these gifts will continue to move about in our lives and it will be our decision whether to move with these gifts in our lives, or to let stewardship pass us by.

May God continue to bless each of you during this Easter season, and as you continue to share lovingly your gifts with others.