Hi friends, in these posts, I talk about some of the things going on in my life, set some goals for the upcoming week, and talk about what I’m learning. Today, we are talking about what daily faithfulness looks like. It is a commitment to return and tend to what we have been given by God to steward in this life.
Celebrations, Milestones, and Small, Daily Faithfulness
We’ve been celebrating our time together with family and friends as we celebrated America’s Birthday. It’s truly so sweet to see my children enjoy their ‘special cousin time.’ My husband has a big family (10 brothers and sisters!) – and now that several of us have families of our own, there are lots of little ones to play with.
These summer days have fallen into a routine:
- Wake up and Morning Routine
- Sometimes: School Review
- Computer Work
- Pool for the rest of the day
- Dinner and Bed
Not a bad day, right?
As I look forward to the Fall, I’m thinking about this: We have a second chance to reach our goals for this year.
We can be intentional and keep moving forward.
Daily Faithfulness Means a Commitment to Return and Tend
In this Building Beautiful Series, I’ve talked about daily faithfulness quite a bit. While modern life focuses on productivity, the Christian life defines success through faithfulness. Faithfulness is intentionality towards the good, true, and beautiful. It is a conscious decision to be obedient in the midst of the twists and turns of life.
God is always faithful to us. We, as his covenant people, have a decision to make: Will we be faithful or faithless?
A beautiful life is one that is committed to faithfulness. But, how do we choose to live faithfully now?
Our lives are like a garden. Gardening is not a project that you can finish. Each day, week, and month brings a new set of tasks. Gardening requires tending. Instead of a task list you can check off forever, it loops back, over and over.
God has given us so many things that we must steward. It is up to us to return each day and tend.
What does tending look like?
Just like gardening requires you to go out to the garden and touch the plants, we must “touch” all of the things that we have been given to steward each day. By daily looping back to these things, we make more progress in the long haul than if we treated it like a huge project and sunk eight hours into it… only to not pick it up again for 3 months.
This is the nature of the Faithful Life. It naturally loops back, again and again—like a vine on the trellis.
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What have we been given to steward?
Biblical stewardship recognizes that God is the one who truly owns everything. He is sovereign overall. Nothing is truly ours.
We may bristle at this notion when it comes to our wallets, but we begin to understand it when we turn our focus to our children. From our families, to our homes, to our bank accounts, all of these things are not really ours. We will approach them rightly—with a healthy sense of honor and practicality—if we recognize that these things are only given to us for a short period of time, but they truly belong to God.
They are under our domain for our time, but ultimately, they all are under the authority and sovereignty of God.
Just like we find in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25), we will be judged on how well we took care of the things we are given to steward. The judgment is based on how fruitful our stewardship is. We are commanded to grow and multiply.
What we are given to steward varies based on our situation in life, but the common threads fall under categories that are applicable to all. We must steward our:
- Roots: Soul & Spirit
- Rhythms: Home & Order
- Body: Physical Stewardship
- Cultivation: Mind
- Culture: Heart & Home
- Fruit: Outward Contribution
From our souls to our homes to our family and work, each of these areas of life requires us to return and tend. We all called to do the next right thing, cultivating these areas, which yield the fruit of faithfulness.
We have to loop back to these areas of our lives daily. We tend them… and then tend them again.
My Goals for the Upcoming Week
This summer has been one of soul-searching, as I think about what it is that I want to do with my life and ministry. At the same time, I am busy working on new opportunities that weren’t even on my horizon back in January. My days are full, but I still want to make the most of the time.
This week, I’m working on:
- Celebrating our daughter’s 4th (!) birthday!
- And the day after our daughter’s birthday is our 8th anniversary. We never had a chance to go out and celebrate last year, but this year we booked a nice dinner downtown. I am so looking forward to it!
- Finishing our homeschool room setup. We have the boxes set, but now we need to add the shelves, drawers, and organize. I would like to get this done ASAP to get organized for the year.
- I ordered a couple of new planners to try. With the growing number of job responsibilities I have for my husband, as well as a couple of part-time jobs I just started, I need a place to track my responsibilities. I LOVE my PPP home planner (read about it here or find it on Amazon), but I realized I need a vertical setup to track this. I ordered a Bloom Planner (I had one years ago, and I loved it! It was one of the first planners I stuck with) plus a more simplified cleaning tracker. So I want to get those set up this week. I don’t use a homeschool planner. Memoria Press offers a really comprehensive curriculum guide that can double as lesson planning (a requirement in SC). I don’t really need to track it twice. I just use my attendance log (find it here) to keep track of days.
- Our local Y is offering an amazing deal on a gym membership, so I signed up. My goal is to go three times a week!
What are you working on this week? You can let me know in the comments below!
Until next time, keep creating a life you love and cultivating your heart for God.
In Christ,
Cayce
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