Somehow my mind wandered during morning chapel. It tends to do that. Usually the thoughts are so vaporous that they soon flee my brain. Today I happened to write two down. I commend to your consideration this thought:
Is stewardship the responsible care and use of all the gifts God has given you? (think: Adam – given Eve and the Garden)
Is stewardship also the partaking of God’s gifts when reasonably deemed appropriate, useful, efficacious, or practical?
With the latter thought, the perceptive and loyal reader will know what I have in mind, namely the gift of children. I can see other applications such as the Lord’s Supper or the consumption of creature comforts.
I believe the first statement to be uniformly applicable to all mankind. Is the second statement also universal to every gift? Or does it not apply to some gifts and so to others?
For example, should one consume of the Lord’s forgiveness in His Supper only when you deem it useful (i.e. hungry or perhaps especially tormented)? Or is appropriate to receive it as often as it is offered?
On the other hand, alcohol, while a gift of the Lord, is not to be consumed to the harm of the body. Its proper stewardship requires restraint and appropriate consideration.
So back to the thought of the day, how about so-called family planning? Does our Christian freedom place in the first statement – receiving our Lord’s gift of children as often as He deems fit, caring for them with responsibility?
Or does the conception of children fall in the realm of the latter statement, similar to alcohol or other creature comforts – to be consumed critically and in consideration of the consequence, with responsibility not only in the care but in their procreation?
The thoughts were likely inspired as I was musing upon a post from a favorite blog. The authors have a number of posts on tiresome comments made to families who are not restricted by the constraints of stewardship thought #2 above.
Concordian Sisters of Perpetual Parturition: Since we’re on the topic
Since we’re on the topic of repeated remarks that become rather tiresome, both of these just came up again, and I’m trying to decide which annoys me more. So, perhaps we should take a vote:1) “I wish I could stay home with the kids, but [wistful sigh] we just can’t afford it†[uttered by persons who can’t but know that their head-of-household’s income exceeds ours].
2) “I could never stay home with the kids [because it would drive me crazy/because I need to be out doing something else]  read more…
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