Saints and Stewardship

I find hope and support in the fact that All Saints’ Day falls in the middle of our annual stewardship emphasis. It’s not that I think saints are those who “paid their way into sainthood” with extravagant gifts. I see the saints of our lives—those who are “famous” and those who are known only to us—who lived their life with God in open and generous ways. Saints are those who lived life all out—loving, serving, giving, helping, befriending as if there was no tomorrow. Saints are those who devoted themselves to standing for justice and seeking peace as if tomorrow mattered in urgent and vital ways. Saints are those who lived a life with money and possessions that ranged from rich to poor, from well-off to struggling, but regardless of where they existed within that spectrum, they never forgot—not for one day—that life is a gift from God, and everything we have is a gift from God.

So we celebrate All Saints’ Day and we look toward stewardship. Stewardship can be a hard thing. Especially the way the economy struggles, stewardship can seem like such a challenge. The good thing—the best thing, really—is that we have models to help us along the way. You could even say that we are surrounded by a cloud of witness who are supporting us and cheering us on as we live completely and fully as God’s, cherishing every day and everything as a gift.