StewardLife Lesson 36

STORY

"Don't forget to set the garbage cans out for the morning pickup," Doris called through the open kitchen door.

Don had been in the garage, adjusting the mower and was just closing the overhead door when Doris reminded him. He glanced at his watch. Ten past eight o'clock. The big game had already started.

Grudgingly he re-opened the door and tugged at the big garbage can, dragging it across the garage floor and out toward the curb. A gust of wind caught the can, spun it partly around and twisted it out of his grasp. It hit the ground with a thud, the lid popped off and garbage spilled out all over the driveway.

Now Don was really irritated. Through his neighbor's open window he heard the sound of the neighbor boys cheering and the unmistakable sound of fireworks that meant that someone had hit a home run right at the beginning of the game. And he had missed it!

As he struggled to capture the blowing trash and get it back in the can, he began to mellow a bit. There was the supermarket register receipt--20 inches long! The box from his new DVD player. The ticket stubs from the dinner theater.

As Don gathered up more and more of the trash, he realized that he was re-living the past week of his and Doris' life. It was garbage--yes--but it was a record of their blessings for only a single week.

INSIGHT OUT

The memory of how God blesses you can fade as fast as ice melts in the freshly brewed tea of an iced tea maker. The realization of what God gives is tossed aside as easily as wadding up a paper towel and tossing it in the trash. You don't give it a second thought.

Whoever would consider trash as a record of blessings! It is evidence of what a church leader once said: "We don't receive very well." His point was that since we are not good receivers of God's blessings, how can we be good managers of God's gifts in our own lives or distributors of those blessings to others? (see Romans 11:35-36; Philippians 4:14-19) God is not a receiver (it's not necessary) but a giver. We are the receivers of what God gives. Like Paul, we can see the receiving and management of God's gifts as an act of worship.

EXERCISE

Do like Don. Don't get all messy in the garbage, but pay attention to what your trash contains this week. And translate your trash into a record of your blessings. Then thank God for what your trash represents as you live out the StewardLife!