By Catholic Stewardship Consultants
www.CatholicSteward.com
When we think of stewardship, we tend to think of it only in terms of what we do within the life of our parish or the broader church. We give of our time, our talent and our treasure to build the church, to serve the parish family and to give glory to God.
But stewardship extends far beyond our faith community. Being good stewards involves every aspect of our lives. So when we say we are called to live a stewardship way of life, we are called to live it at church, at home, in the community and even at work.
How can we live out stewardship at work? We spend much of our day at work, and it is there where we earn our treasure by the use of our talents. Indeed, living as a Christian steward should shape who we are in the workplace and guide us in how we do our jobs.
As Christ’s disciples, everything we do should glorify him — how we conduct ourselves, how we speak, how we interact with co-workers or clients. What’s more, the talents we use to do our jobs come from God, so in an effort to glorify him, we must not settle for simply “getting the job done” and taking home the paycheck.
Rather, as stewards, we must do our jobs — whether we are a CEO or an entry-level employee — to the best of our ability, and we must thank the Lord for the opportunity. Without the Lord and his immeasurable generosity, we would have no time to do anything, no talents with which to make a living and no treasure to bring home.
What’s more, when we work with the attitude of a grateful steward, not only do we grow stronger in our commitment to Christ and our recognition that all good things come from him, but we also call and inspire others to do the same.
Imagine you worked with a person who was always joyfully doing his job, a person who was obviously grateful to do his work, no matter how stressful the tasks at hand. Most of us would be drawn to this person. We would wonder how, even when things get particularly tough, there is always a sense of peace, joy and gratefulness about him.
As Catholic stewards, we all should strive to be that person. Living our work lives with attitudes of gratitude will undoubtedly call others to question what it is that makes us so grateful and so happy, giving us the opportunity to preach the Gospel and to preach stewardship to others — through our words and through our example.
