Our lives as Christian stewards are measured on our actions rather than our good intentions, and while it is easy to talk about what we should be doing, it’s often difficult to put into practice on a consistent basis those things that will truly bring us closer to God. It does appear though, that during this Advent and Christmas season most people do go the extra mile and do practice what they preach. It’s just a question of how to make it a permanent lifestyle change rather than something that is perceived as a penance for a few short weeks now and again during Lent.

Stewardship as a way of life is often characterized as an optional way to go about our daily existence, at least in the minds of some. I once had a person explain to me that stewardship is a radical idea that only a few really holy people adhere to. After an interesting conversation with this person, I came to believe that he was expressing a belief that he really didn’t live out, for he was much more stewardship minded that he realized. The close relationship with God in prayer was somewhat lacking, but the elements of gratitude and generosity were definitely present in this man’s life.

Reality television is one of the recent additions to today’s society, and I have to admit that I occasionally indulge in watching them, either because they truly are amazing in terms of what we as a society will do, or because they are downright ridiculous. One of the recent shows focused on weight loss among the participants with a grand prize for the one who lost the greatest percentage. While I did not watch any earlier shows, I was amazed at the transformation of the contestants.

You might ask what this has to do with stewardship. The answer is that the weight didn’t disappear because people talked about losing weight, but because they changed their thinking, their mentality about how they wanted to live their lives, and carried it out in action. Each of them suggested that they never wanted to be like that again, and many of them will undoubtedly succeed in accomplishing this goal.

Would a change in our lives to more fully incorporate stewardship into our daily lives produce the dramatic visible changes that were so evident on reality television? I would suggest that depending upon our present relationship with God and whether we’ve sustained an ongoing dialogue through prayer with Jesus and through receiving the Sacraments, that some of the transformations in our spiritual lives over time could compete with reality television.

It is my hope that during this Advent Season we will grow closer in our relationship with Jesus through the many generous acts that symbolize this time of year, and that each of us will conscientiously strive to incorporate this lifestyle into our daily living year around. Walking the walk (sometimes we won’t even realize were practicing stewardship) instead of just talking the talk is key to this process. I pray that we will be as ecstatic about the transformation of our spiritual lives a year from now as were the contestants on reality television.