Stewardship in Christian preaching emphasizes faithful management of all God’s gifts—time, talents, and resources—for His glory and kingdom purposes. It uses images like investments, stewardship of time, and the parable of talents to illustrate accountability and fruitful service (1 Corinthians 4:2; Matthew 25:14-30). These pictures encourage believers to wisely use their single life opportunity to serve God effectively and reap eternal rewards.
Dionysius valued time so highly he wished never to have leisure moments wasted.
Dionysius the Silician employed his time so well, that, being asked by one who wanted to speak with him if he were at leisure, he answered, "Heaven forbid that I should ever have any leisure-time!"
— Scruggs
Lost time is like pearls slipping into the abyss, irrecoverable and deeply regretted.
We are doomed to suffer a bitter pang as often as the irrecoverable flight of our time is brought home with keenness to our hearts. The spectacle of a lady floating over the sea in a boat, and waking suddenly from sleep to find her magnificent ropes of pearl necklace by some accident detached at one end from its fastenings, the loose string hanging down into the water, and pearl after pearl slipping off forever into the abyss, brings before us the sadness of the case. That particular pearl which at the very moment is rolling off into the unsearchable deep carries its own separate reproach to the lady's heart; but it is more deeply reproachful as the representative of so many other uncounted pearls that have already been swallowed up irrecoverably while yet she was sleeping, and of many besides that must follow before any remedy can be applied to what we may call this jewelly hemorrhage.
Life is a play ending in eternity; neglecting time leads to eternal darkness.
Many sitting up long at play have to go to bed in the dark. Life here is a play whose bed is eternity. Let us, then, give over play before our candle is out, and we, left in darkness, have to take up our bed in hell to all eternity. Spencer.
Lost time can never be restored or erased from heaven’s record.
Lost wealth may be restored by industry, the wreck of health regained by temperance, forgotten knowledge restored by study, alienated friendship smoothed into forgetfulness, even forfeited reputation won by penitence and virtue; but who ever looked upon his vanished hours, recalled his slightest years, stamped them with wisdom, or effaced from heaven's record the fearful blot of wasted time?
— Mrs. Sigourney
Time’s past, present, and future show consequences of how we use our days.
It was wittily said, that by some time was thus pictured of old: Time to come had the head of a fawning dog; time present, the head of a stirring lion; time past, the head of a biting wolf; so teaching, that though silly souls fancy still their best days are to come, yet, if they bestir not well themselves in their present ones, they will be very miserably torn and bitten in their future.
— Burgess
Even the smallest fraction of time is valuable and should not be wasted.
Said Gen. Mitchell to an army officer who apologized for a little delay, "Only a few moments! I have been in the habit of calculating the value of the thousandth part of a second."
Time is a treasure that yields abundant returns when cultivated diligently.
An Italian philosopher expressed in his motto, "that time was his treasure,"—an estate, indeed, which will produce nothing without cultivation, but which will always abundantly repay the labors of industry, and satisfy the most extensive desires if no part of it be suffered to lie waste by negligence, to be overrun with noxious plants, or laid out for show rather than use.
— Dr. Johnson
Christians should treasure every moment as precious, using time for faith and growth.
Doyle remarks "that sand-grains are easily scattered; but skilful artificers gather, melt, and transmute them to glass, of which they make mirrors lenses, and telescopes. Even so vigilant Christians improve parenthetic fragments of time employing them in self-examination, acts of faith, and researches of holy truth; by which they become looking-glasses for their souls and telescopes revealing their promised heaven." Jewellers save the very sweepings of their shops, because they contain particles of precious metal. Should Christians, whose every moment was purchased for them by the blood of Christ, be less careful of time? Surely its very minutiae should be more treasured than grains of gold or dust of diamonds.
— S. Coley
God expects us to wisely use every moment of time and will hold us accountable for it.
Every day, every hour in the day, is a talent of time; and God expects the improvement of it, and will charge the non-improvement of it upon you at last. Caesar, observing some ladies at Rome to spend much of their time in making much of little dogs and monkeys, asked them whether the women in that country had no children to make much of.
How we use time determines whether it becomes a blessing or a curse in our lives.
Time is life's freightage, wherewith some men trade, and make a fortune; and others suffer it to moulder all away, or waste in extravagance. Time is life's book, out of which some extract wondrous wisdom; while others let it lie uncovered, and then die fools. Time is life's tree, from which some gather precious fruit, while others lie down under its shadow, and perish with hunger. Time is life's ladder, whereby some raise themselves up to honor and renown and glory; and some let themselves down into the deeps of shame, degradation, and ignominy. Time will be to us what, by our use of the treasure, we make it,—a good or an evil, a blessing or a curse. J. Stoughton.
Diligence in useful tasks is rewarded, while idleness leads to exclusion and hardship.
Among the ancient Indians there were a set of men called gymnosophists, who had a great aversion to sloth and idleness. When the tables were spread for their repasts, the assembling youths were asked by their masters in what useful task they had been employed from the hour of sunrise. One, perhaps, represented himself as having been an arbitrator, and succeeded, by his prudent management, in composing a difference between friends. A second had been paying obedience to his parent's commands. A third had made some discovery by his own application, or learned something by another's instruction. But he who had done nothing to deserve a dinner was turned out of doors without one, and obliged to work while the others enjoyed the fruits of their application.
— Knowles
Valuing time highly leads to productive and disciplined living, avoiding wasted hours.
Queen Charlotte said, "I am always quarrelling with time: it is so short to do something, and so long to do nothing." John Bradford used to say, "I count that hour lost in which I have done no good by my pen or tongue." Seneca taught, that time was the only thing of which it is a virtue to be covetous. Dr. Cotton Mather would express his regret after the departure of a visitor that had wasted his time, "I had rather have given him a handful of money than have been kept thus long out of my study." Henry Martyn won the honorable title, "The man that never wasted an hour."
God gives time sparingly, urging us to use each moment well in preparation for eternity.
To show us the worth of time, God, most liberal of all other things, is exceedingly frugal in the dispensing of that; for he never gives us two moments together, nor grants us a second till he has withdrawn the first, still keeping the third in his own hands, so that we are in perfect uncertainty whether we shall have it or not. The true manner of preparing for the last moment is to spend all the others well, and ever to expect that. We dote upon this world as if it were never to have an end, and neglect the next as if it were never to have a beginning.
— Fenlon
Rich gems unused yield no income; useful stones produce profit, illustrating stewardship.
A nobleman showed a friend his large collection of the richest gems, and remarked, that they yielded him no income. The other replied, that he had two stones that cost him ten florins each, that yielded him two hundred florins a year. The common stones were useful; the idle treasures useless.
Wasting wealth on vanity harms comfort and generosity that could bless many.
I am no advocate for meanness of private habitation. I would fain introduce into it all magnificence, care, and beauty, where they are possible; but I would not have that useless expense in unnoticed fineries or formalities, — cornicing of ceilings, and grainings of doors, and fringing of curtains, and thousands of such things, — which have become foolishly and apathetically habitual; things on which common appliance hang whole trades, to which there never belonged the blessings of giving one ray of real pleasure, or becoming of the remotest or most contemptible use; things which cause half the expense of life, and destroy more than half its comfort, manliness, respectability, freshness, and facility. I speak from experience: I know what it is to live in a cottage with a deal floor and roof, and a hearth of mica-slate; and I know it to be in many respects healthier and happier than living between a Turkey carpet and a gilded ceiling, beside a steel grate and polished fender. I do not say that such things have not their place and propriety; but I say this emphatically, that a tenth part of the expense which is sacrificed in domestic vanities, if not absolutely and meaninglessly lost in domestic comforts and incumbrances, would, if collectively afforded and wisely employed, build a marble church for every town in England. Ruskin.
Valuable things require effort and labor; nothing worth having comes without cost.
Set it down as a fact to which there are no exceptions, that we must labor for all we have, and that nothing is worth possessing or offering to others which costs us nothing. Gilbert Wakefield tells us, that he wrote his own memoirs, a large octavo, in six or eight days. It cost him nothing, and, what is very natural, is worth nothing. You might yawn scores of such books into existence; but who would be the wiser or better? We all like gold, but dread the digging. The cat loves the fish, but will not wade to catch them. Dr. J. Todd.
Abstaining from drink enabled a man to wisely use money for family and security.
At a meeting in Birmingham, of a total abstinence society, the following statement was made by a working coach painter, who was called on in his turn to speak on the subject of temperance. He said he had made a few calculations which he wished to communicate, with the view of showing the pecuniary benefit he had derived during the four years he had been a teetotal member. Previous to that time he had been in the practice of spending, on an average, in intoxicating drink, fivepence per day, or £7 12s. 1d. per annum, and which in four years would amount to £30 4s. 4d. He would now show how this sum had been expended during the four years he had abstained from all intoxicating drinks. First, it had enabled him to allow an aged father £3 5s. per annum towards rent, or in four years, £13. Secondly, he had entered a benefit society, and paid one shilling and sevenpence per week, or £4 2s. 4d. per annum, or £16 9s. 4d. for the four years. For this payment he secured the following advantages: in case of his being disabled from doing his accustomed work by illness or accident, the society will pay him eighteen shillings per week, until restored to health: in case of death, his widow or rightful heir is entitled to a bonus of £9, besides half the amount paid into the society by the deceased up to the time of his death, with the inter est due thereon. Thirdly, it left him four shillings and ninepence per annum, or nineteen shillings for the four years, to be expended in temperance periodicals. It might further be added, that when the sum of £54 had been paid into the society's funds, no further payment would be required, and the contributor would be entitled to all the benefits before enumerated; medicine and medical attendance were included in the arrangement. Reader, how much may be done with fivepence a day!
Saving money by quitting alcohol enabled a man to pay rent and gain respectability.
A blacksmith in the city of Philadelphia, was complaining to his iron merchant that such was the scarcity of money that he could not pay his rent. The merchant then asked him how much rum he used in his family, in the course of the day. Upon his answering this question, the merchant made a calculation, and showed him that his rum amounted to more money in the year than his house-rent. The calculation so astonished the mechanic, that he determined from that day to buy and drink no spirits of any kind. In the course of the ensuing year he paid his rent and bought a new suit of clothes out of the savings of his temperance. He persisted in it through the course of his life, and the consequence was competence and respectability.
2. Total Abstinence the only Safe Ground.
A believer devotes all wealth to God, taking only what is necessary for family needs.
A minister of the gospel, conversing with Lady Huntingdon about the wants of a family that appeared to be in distress, her ladyship observed, "I can do for them but very little. I am obliged to be a spectator of miseries which I pity, but cannot relieve: for when I gave myself up to the Lord, I likewise devoted to him all my fortune, with this reserve, that I would take with a sparing hand what might be necessary for my food and raiment, and for the support of my children, should they live to be reduced. I was led to this from a consideration that there were many benevolent persons, who had no religion, who could feel for the temporal miseries of others, and help them; but few, even among professors, who had a proper concern for the awful condition of ignorant and perishing souls. What, therefore, I can save for a while out of my own necessaries I will give them; but more I dare not take without being guilty of sacrilege."
Lady Huntingdon's modest living challenges others to prioritize God over luxury.
Lady Huntingdon, with an income of only £1200 a year, did much for the cause of religion. She maintained the college she had erected, at her sole expense; she erected chapels in most parts of the kingdom, and she supported ministers who were sent to preach in various parts of the world. A minister of the gospel, and a person from the country, once called on her ladyship. When they came out, the countryman turned his eyes towards the house, and, after a short pause, exclaimed, "What a lesson! Can a person of her noble birth, nursed in the lap of grandeur, live in such a house, so meanly furnished—and shall I, a tradesman, be surrounded with luxury and elegance? From this moment I shall hate my house, my furniture, and myself, for spending so little for God, and so much in folly."
A poor farmer gives all surplus produce to God’s work, showing faithful stewardship.
An agent soliciting funds for a certain benevolent object, called upon the minister of a poor country town, made known his object, and inquired of that minister, whether there were any individuals in his parish, who would contribute for that object. The minister answered, "No." Then, checking himself, he said, "We have, however, one man who considers himself as a steward of the property of God. Perhaps he would, give something. You will find him upon the mountain, yonder." The agent toiled up the steep ascent, and approached his dwelling. It was built of logs, and its door was opened by a leather string. He entered and made known the object of his visit. "We have," said the benevolent farmer, "for several years considered all the products of our farm, above what is necessary for the supply of our own wants, as the Lord's property, to be devoted to some good object. We have so disposed of the whole this year, excepting one article, that is our cheese. It may be worth twenty or twenty-five dollars. We had not determined to what object to devote it. We will give you that." This man, living in his cabin of logs, and cultivating a small farm upon the mountain, was accustomed to give for purposes of benevolence, about three hundred dollars yearly.
Diligence and personal effort lead to success, unlike laziness and neglect.
A gentleman in Surrey, (Eng.,) once held a farm worth £200 a year in his own hands, till he was obliged to sell half of it to pay his debts, and let the other half to a farmer, on a lease of 21 years. After a while, the farmer wanted to buy the land. "How is this," said the gentleman, 210-212
IMPULSES—INFIDELITY.
"that I could not live upon the farm, being my own, while you have paid rent, and yet are able to purchase it?" "O," said the farmer, "two words make all the difference: you said go, and I say come; you lay in bed, or took your pleasure, and sent others about your business; and I rise betimes, and see my business done myself."
A clergyman’s benevolent legacy was lost due to debtor insolvency, illustrating unforeseen consequences.
We knew a worthy clergyman, says a writer in the New-York Evangelist, who had the cause of religion deeply at heart, and who, by his will, had bequeathed to a benevolent institution a certain bond which he held against an individual then
Faithful stewards avoid spending the Lord's money on harmful habits like tobacco.
Says a correspondent of the Ohio Observer:— "When the use of tobacco was fashionable even among the genteel, in walking through a village, I passed a store where I knew there were some very fine cigars. I was immediately seized with the hankering so well known to habitual smokers. The determination arose to lay out a few shillings in purchasing some. As I had been endeavoring to accustom myself to regard my money as the Lord's, and myself as the steward, I tried the rule in that case. I found myself unwilling to charge such an item on my account book. A faithful steward would make no such expenditure, thought I. The money which had been taken out was dropped again into my pocket, and I passed on. I have ever found it difficult to smoke cigars since that time. The cure which I propose is, to ask the blessing of God on all expenditures, and to try to be faithful stewards of the Lord's money."
A poor man gave mission money by sacrificing his tobacco spending.
A minister in England had been pleading with his congregation the claims of the poor heathen on Christian benevolence, and strongly urging on them the duty of contributing to the support of missionary exertions. His friends readily contributed according to their several abilities. The next year, when the missionary collection was about to be made, the minister received a onepound note from a poor laboring man, with a statement to the following effect: —"Sir, when you preached the missionary sermon last year, I was grieved that I had it not in my power to give what I wished. I thought and thought, and consulted my wife whether there was any thing which we could spare without stinting the poor children; but it seemed that we lived as near as possible in every respect, and had nothing but what was absolutely necessary. At last it came into my mind, 'Is that fourpence which goes every week for an ounce of tobacco absolutely necessary?' I had been used to it so long, that I scarcely thought it possible to do without it; however, I resolved to try; so, instead of spending the fourpence, I dropped it into a box. The first week I felt it sorely; but the second week it was easier; and, in the course of a few weeks, it was little or no sacrifice at all; at least I can say, that the pleasure far outweighed the sacrifice. When my children found what I was doing, they wished to contribute also; and, if ever they got a penny or a half-penny given them for their own pleasure, it was sure to find its way into the box instead of the cake shop. On opening the box, I have the pleasure to find that our collected pence amount to one pound, which I now inclose, and pray that the Lord may give his blessing with it. I am thankful for having thus broken off a dirty and expensive habit, and I have enjoyed more health and cheerfulness since I left off that which I once thought it was impossible for me to do without."
Militia training imposes heavy financial and time costs on communities and families.
In a small town of New England, there were formed even in 1842, no less than three military companies with some aid from an adjoining town, and one company of juvenile volunteers. Of the latter, a shrewd, economical man said, "I wish this training fever were over; for it has cost me eight or ten dollars to fit up my boys, and lost me a great deal of their time during the best season of the year." If there were only forty boys in the company, and their equipments cost four dollars each, and their time was worth only twenty-five cents a day, the sum total for these items alone, would have been $340. If we suppose the whole number from that town in the adult companies to have been only one hundred, the time spent through the season, a single week at merely half a dollar a day, their incidental expenses at barely twenty-five cents more, and their equipments of every kind eight dollars each, the aggregate, though most of these estimates are too low by half, would amount to no less than $1250, in all, for boys and men, $1500; and, should we reckon the loss of time and money to the spectators, and the general suspension or derangement of business, the sum total would probably reach $3000 or more. Put it, however, at only $2000 for a population of one thousand; and, even at this rate, you would make our militia drills now (1845) a tax upon the country of some $10,000,000 a year!
Faithful stewardship of money honors God and requires accountability.
Those so entrusted must learn to deal faithfully. God will reckon with them if they do not. Loose financial methods in the church dishonor God
Consecrating our talents to God brings both credit and full enjoyment of them.
Best way to get the credit of our endowments, as well as full enjoyment of them is to consecrate them to God and use them for Him
Even a small careless act can spoil great and carefully prepared work.
”Don’t touch the lens,” was the sign in a room of a great observatory, in which was the largest telescope in the world. The visitor was told that even a slight rub would spoil the accuracy which was attained with vast labor and extreme care. A man did once thoughtlessly draw his thumb over a lens, and its exactness was sensibly marred.
Failing to invest money wisely results in lost potential growth over time.
A man went to the hank, asking and receiving specie for bills to the amount of a thousand dollars. He had kept these bills just as he had received them more than twenty years. If he had deposited them in a savings bank, and allowed them to remain on interest, he might have drawn almost three times the amount at the end of this long interval.
Wasted time is irretrievable, unlike wealth, health, or reputation.
Lost wealth may be restored by industry, the wreck of health regained by temperance, forgotten knowledge restored by study, broken friendship mended, even forfeited reputation won by penitence and virtue; but whoever recalled his wasted time?
True stewardship prioritizes serving God over pursuing wealth and material gain.
A gentleman of Boston (U. S.), an intimate friend of Professor Agassiz, once expressed his wonder that a man of such abilities as he (Agassiz) possessed should remain contented with such a moderate income. "I have enough," was Agassiz's reply. "I have not time to make money. Life is not sufficiently long to enable a man to get rich, and do his duty to his fellow men at the same time." Christian, have you time to serve your God and yet to give your whole soul to gaining wealth? The question is left for conscience to answer.
Believers must carefully guard heart, actions, speech, and conscience as God's stewards.
An old writer, speaking of men as stewards of God, urges upon them as wise traders and servants to look to themselves carefully, and take care of four houses which are under their charge, 1.—Their warehouse, or heart and memory, wherein they should store up precious things, holy affections, grateful remembrances, celestial preparations, etc. Without a good stock in the warehouse there can be no good trade. 2.—Their workhouse, or their actions, wherein they retail to others for God's glory the grace entrusted to them; teaching the ignorant, comforting the poor, visiting the sick, etc. We must be active, or we cannot be acceptable servants. 3.—Their clock-house, meaning their speech, which must always, like a well-timed bell, speak the truth accurately; and meaning also their observance of time, redeeming it by promptly doing the duties of every hour. We must use time well, or our spiritual gains will be small. 4.—Their counting-house, or their conscience, which is to be scrupulously watched, and no false reckonings allowed, lest we deceive our own souls. The Master will call for our accounts, let us keep them honestly.
Teaching children the full cost of bread fosters gratitude and stewardship.
When your child throws away a piece of bread, make him pick it up again and tell him the history of that piece of bread. Tell him what has been requisite that that bread might exist. Tell him of the toils of the plowman and of the sower, under the sky, inclement and changeful; the obscure bursting of the seed in the ground, the long sleep under the snow, the awakening in the spring, when the green life along the furrows makes its orisons to the sun, source of life. Describe the hope of the farmer when the corn puts forth its ears, and his anguish when the storm rises on the horizon. Do not forget the harvester who wields his scythe in the dog-day heat, and that poor prisoner of the cities, pledged to nocturnal toil in overheated cellars, the baker. (Text.)--CHARLES WAGNER, “The Gospel of Life.”
A wise legacy benefits others, unlike hoarding wealth or fearing loss after death.
Russell Sage, it is said, directed by his will that his body should be placed in a steel casket, weighing three tons, made burglar-proof, locked and sealed. He made this bequest to himself through fear that his physical remains might be stolen for the sake of getting a ransom. During his long life he accumulated a vast fortune and kept it. He probably spent no more, fared no better, did no more service to his fellow men than many a business man or employee of modest income.
The late Governor Hogg, of Texas, left no fortune to relatives or to charity. He directed that a pecan-tree should be planted at the head of his grave and a walnut-tree at its foot. His purpose was to teach thrift to the people of his State. These fruit-bearing trees suggest comfort and prosperity. There is no fear that any one will steal his body, but a message of wisdom and affection will continue to go out from it after the remains have returned to dust. (Text.)
Innovative design in everyday items exemplifies wise stewardship and economy.
We are enjoined to “lay aside every weight” in our Christian career. One way to do this is to study the art of reducing our necessities to the lowest terms, like this umbrella:
A twenty-six-inch umbrella that will fold up and go in an inside pocket without crowding has been invented and constructed by a Minneapolis man, we are told in _The American Inventor_. Says this paper: “This seems almost incredible until the secret is told. The handle and all the ribs consist of fine and very strong steel tubes, in sections, which telescope one inside the other. The covering is of very fine silk, which takes up but little room. The wooden handle of the umbrella is hollow and receives all the rest of the telescoping umbrella-rod when shut up. A small and light case is provided to contain the whole, which, as stated, goes easily into the pocket. If such a device can be made and sold for a reasonable price there is little to prevent the owner from making a fortune; there are few men who would not welcome an umbrella which could be always carried without inconvenience, and which could be put out of the way of the borrower-who-never-returns, when entering a public place, such as a restaurant.” (Text.)
Utilizing all parts of an animal shows stewardship and avoiding waste.
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In the packing business nothing is lost but “the squeal of the pig.” Every part of an animal is now valuable. Much of the profit of a packing-house now comes from byproducts, like hair, entrails and the like, that once were thrown away.
Recycling waste materials demonstrates stewardship and resourcefulness.
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You do not see to-day as many of the old peach or pea or salmon or tomato cans emptied of their contents and thrown about in the vacant lot or in the rubbish heap of the private family or the general garbagepile of the community. It was a real nuisance to have so many of these useless “cast-offs” accumulating under eye and foot. And with the increased use of canned goods this was becoming more and more so. Loads of these refuse cans are now gathered every year and are made into shining sheets which are used as a covering and decoration of traveling trunks. Enough tin refuse is taken from the ash-heaps to keep several mills employed in turning this waste into products for the markets. Even the solder which is saved from these cast-away cans brings twelve cents per pound, and yields an income that pays well for the pains of gathering this rubbish. Window-sash weights are made out of the tops and bottoms of these old cans, while the body of the can is cleaned and rolled anew, and made serviceable for trunk covering.--G. P. PERRY, “Wealth from Waste.”
Small, careful savings reflect patient toil and sacrificial stewardship over time.
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Have you ever, in hours of illness or of great preoccupation, performed some piece of work; undertaken, for example, some long-drawn piece of needlework, and woven your thoughts into the leaves and flowers? Through force of association, your inner experience and your work were henceforth completely identified, and after many years you could still say to yourself: This flower recalls the day when I was expecting news of my sick and absent son. I wavered between fear and hope and my hand trembled. Something of his fever has remained in this frail stem.... Here is a swallow that I embroidered after I had received happy tidings that reassured me and announced his near return. Never shall I be able to look at it without thinking of all the joy of which a mother’s heart is capable!
The labor involved in economy is like these patient toils. The little pennies also have their story. This story is made up of watchfulness, of cares, of tenderness, of sublime sacrifice. Never will the large sums of nameless money attain to the power of signification possest by these little pennies amassed one by one, put carefully away, to which one has said: Little penny, I keep you to-day in order that you may keep me to-morrow; I give you a post of honor; the day when misery approaches my sill and threatens to cross it, you will cry out: you may not pass!--CHARLES WAGNER, “The Gospel of Life.”
Stopping work when a task is done saves energy and increases productivity.
In a shoe factory I was once shown an attachment to the sewing and other machines which caused the machine to stop whenever its work was done. When one button-hole was made the mechanism paused until it was given another task to do, so that no power was wasted, and no useless wear permitted. And the superintendent said: “That little iron ‘trick’ cost us two hundred dollars, but it saves us thousands of dollars every year in wear and tear of machinery and in attendance. It enables one operator to take care of two, three, and sometimes more machines.” Here, at least, is a hint that is intelligible and available to us all. How much longer would our youth stay by us if we had this life-saving attachment affixt; if we could only stop when a given task is done; if we did but apply ourselves but once to the one thing. (Text.)--VYRNWY MORGAN, “The Cambro-American Pulpit.”
Longevity depends on wisely managing and conserving one’s vital energy reserves.
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We--at least persons who have passed middle age--have only a certain amount of reserve force, and all that we draw upon in hurries is abstracted from that which should be distributed through the remainder of life. The secret of longevity is probably skill in so economizing the reserve of vital energy as to make it last out an unusual period. Persons who begin unusual exercises in youth may adapt their constitutions to the habit, and may thereby hold on to their full term of life; but this can not be done safely if one waits till mature age before beginning.--_Public Opinion._
Great men deserve provision and care to enable them to fulfill their God-given potential.
We can not secure the great man’s arrival, but when he has come we can show that we know him and appreciate him, as the bees know and appreciate the one who is, of all others, most valuable to the hive. When “Dexter,” the famous race-horse owned by Robert Bonner, was found drawing a clay-cart, and the signs of speed in him were unmistakable, what a world of excitement there was! No harness was too fine, no stable too good for him. He had valets to attend his most delicate wants--watchers by night and by day. I do not say there was the slightest unappropriateness in this. I merely ask if the man of wonderful possibilities is not of as much account and deserving of as much care as the wonderful horse. The great man, or man of genius, will forego yachts and palaces and the muniments of wealth, tho he could enjoy them. What he needs at once is that sure provision which shall give him subsistence and leave him free from worldly toil and worry, as a prerequisite to prosecuting his work.--JOEL BENTON, _Lippincott’s_.
Man cooperates with God and nature to produce new and fruitful works.
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The last ten summers have witnessed greater changes than the previous 10,000, for man has learned to work with nature and God. The old manuscripts and the grains and fruits depicted in old frescoes, tell us that the ancient world had all our grains and fruits. Centuries passed, but the same sheaves and boughs were ripened. It could not be otherwise. The wheat had no feet, the flowers had no hands. The tulip needed man. One day man decided to work together with the fruit. He took the most brilliant colors and carried the plants into a glass house and sealed the room tight. Then he went one hundred miles and brought another tulip, being feet thereto, and pollenized the one flower with the seed of the other. When ten years had passed, lo, there were 5,000 new flowers, never seen before, brilliant in hue, and of an unwonted perfume, growing in the fields of Holland. In Minnesota, using similar methods, the scientists have produced 2,000 new kinds of wheat, and three of these wheats have added enormous wealth to Minnesota and Dakota. Out in Illinois a professor selected corn with reference to the increase of the oil that heats, makes muscle and builds tissue. He carried the percentage of oil in a grain of corn from four hundredths to six hundredths, and this added some five hundred millions to the wealth of the great corn States in a single year. And he did it by tying tissue-paper over the tops of his selected cornstalks, after which he journeyed several hundred miles, to bring pollen with which to fertilize the stalks.
— N. D. HILLIS
Ignoring abundant local resources illustrates failure to steward God's blessings wisely.
The Macon _Telegraph_ says that Macon men in Florida laugh to see natives opening canned tomatoes in sight of tomato plants loaded with ripe fruit. Then the said Macon men go to their own homes and buy Florida shad, at Washington Market prices, altho their own river is full of them; and the _Telegraph_ asks: “Is it not a little singular?” Bless you, no! The same sort of thing is going on all over the country. There is not a year when hams and bacon do not bring higher prices in some great pork-producing counties of the West than they do in New York. There are Southern counties where the watermelon grows so easily that the small boy scorns to steal it, yet in some towns in these counties a watermelon costs twice as much as in any Northern city. There are cattle-ranches in the West where milk, when there is any, brings fifty cents a quart, and great grain farms on the prairies whose owners never in their lives tasted an ear of sweet-corn. And, coming back to the shad, there are times when these fish are running up our own river by tens of thousands that a breakfast of shad costs more than one of beefsteak, altho the shad comes right to town and needs only to be taken from a net, while the beef has to be fed at least three years and then brought half-way across the continent by rail. No, there’s nothing singular about it, except in the fact that where food products most abound human nature seems most incompetent to make full use of its opportunities. America is, above all others, a land of plenty, but no one would imagine it after looking at a price-list of family supplies.--New York _Herald_.
Success requires intelligent organization and stewardship of resources and efforts.
The farmer who tills his own soil, the man in the shop who is his own employer, the proprietor of the small factory, as well as the manager of the greatest manufacturing corporation and his subordinates, are each concerned with the problems of organization in their special work.
Thousands of farmers to-day are eking out a scanty subsistence because of a lack of intelligence in the proper organization of the activities of farm life. Thousands of manufacturing establishments are upon the verge of bankruptcy or are reducing dividends for the same reason. Industrial education confined to the production of skilled workmen might prolong the agony, but would not avert the final disaster, because of lack of intelligence in the organization of means to ends in the particular productive enterprise. Thousands of firms concerned with the distribution of products fail annually, not because of lack of interest on the part of those who are managing them, but because of lack of skilful organization of the various forces whose action is necessary to success.
The schools do not exist to-day which undertake to give instruction in these particular fields. Even the body of knowledge which would form the proper field of study has not been organized and put into teachable form. Even the beginnings have hardly been made toward industrial education in this particular field.--LORENZO D. HARVEY, “Proceedings of the National Education Association,” 1909.
Turning a pest problem into profit shows wise stewardship and providential opportunity.
Some points in muskrat-farming are related by a Vermont man in the _New England Homestead_ as his own experience. Some years ago he dammed a small brook on his farm for the purpose of making a trout-pond. The muskrats, however, speedily took possession of it and made it their home, from which they organized forays into the farmer’s corn-field. This suggested a way of getting even. The next year he enlarged his dam, making a shallow pond covering four acres of marsh-land of no use for crops. The rats appreciated the enlarged accommodations and also the marginal corn crop which he planted for their sustenance, and did not suspect the wire traps set for them when the water should be drawn off.
After a couple of seasons he considered the quarry sufficiently mature to test results. The water was drawn off and the game was caught in the netting. A hundred of the largest and darkest of the captives were returned to the pond for breeding purposes, while more than four hundred were put under tribute of their pelts. The result was more than enough to pay for the construction and labor, and he expects a much larger return of better fur next year. Hundreds of New England farms have brook-fed marshes that could be utilized to equal advantage.
The fur market is a rising one; more in proportion, perhaps, for cheap furs than for the more expensive. The trolley and automobile have increased the demand enormously. The people who buy rich furs are constantly becoming more numerous, and they have their imitators among the many who can afford only the lower grades.--Boston _Transcript_.
Immigrants send vast sums abroad, showing stewardship and financial priorities affect witness.
The United States Immigration Commission informs the American Congress that savings of immigrants to the amount of $275,000,000 are annually sent abroad to be used in foreign countries, and the commission says in its report: “The sum is sent abroad for the purpose of supporting families in foreign countries, for bringing other immigrants to the United States, for the payment of debts or for savings and investment in the countries from which the immigrants come.”
More than 2,300,000 persons throughout the United States are doing an unregulated banking business, handling yearly hundreds of millions of dollars, their customers being found wholly among immigrant laborers who for the most part do not speak English.
The money actually sent abroad is thus distributed according to countries: Italy, $85,000,000; Austria-Hungary, $75,000,000; Russia, including Finland, $25,000,000; Great Britain, $25,000,000; Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, $25,000,000; Germany, $15,000,000; Greece, $5,000,000; the Balkan States, $5,000,000; Japan, $5,000,000; China, $5,000,000; all other countries, $5,000,000.
Even reducing the amount estimated as being too large, there must be an immense outflow of money from the United States in the direction indicated, and it helps explain why there is an excess of commodity exports, averaging $400,000,000 annually, over imports, to settle the invisible indebtedness of the country abroad.
The great outflow of cash sent home by immigrants serves one useful purpose: it advertises the general prosperity of the great republic, and so helps keep up the volume of emigration from Europe. A growing country requires people as well as capital.
It has been estimated that every able-bodied immigrant is worth to the country $5,000; the Northern republic is receiving nearly a million immigrants annually, and allowing that a fifth part are workers of sound physique the gain to the United States is $1,000,000,000, gold, value a year.--_Mexican Herald._
A balanced life includes work, personal growth, and serving others faithfully.
A full week’s work may be well divided according to a plan.
The father of Theodore Roosevelt was a wealthy business man and a Christian. A remarkable thing about him was that he worked five days a week attending strictly to business; one day he spent improving his own mind and heart, and one day doing good, visiting the poor and otherwise helping others. (Text.)
Using even small gifts faithfully can lead to great impact for God's kingdom.
Rev. G. Campbell Morgan tells this story:
Some years ago a woman came to me at the close of the Sunday morning service and said, “Oh, I would give anything to be in this work actively and actually. I would give anything to have some living part in the work that is going on here next week in winning men and women to Christ, but I do not know what to do.”
I said, “My sister, are you prepared to give the Master the five loaves and two fishes you possess?” She said, “I do not know that I have five loaves and two fishes.” I said, “Have you anything that you have used in any way specially?” “No,” she did not think she had. “Well,” I said, “can you sing?” Her reply was, “Yes, I sing at home, and I have sung before now in an entertainment.” “Well, now,” I said, “let us put our hand on that. Will you give the Lord your voice for the next ten days?” Said she, “I will.”
I shall never forget that Sunday evening. I asked her to sing, and she sang. She sang the gospel message with the voice she had, feeling that it was a poor, worthless thing, and that night there came out of the meeting into the inquiry room one man. That man said to me afterward that it was the gospel that was sung which reached his heart; and from that day to this--that is now eleven or twelve years ago--that man has been one of the mightiest workers for God in that city and country I have ever known. How was it done? A woman gave the Master what she had.--_The Church Advocate._
Hoarding talents or resources leads to loss and spiritual inability to serve.
Half a billion dollars is the value of the buried talent (hoarded money) of the United States, according to investigations made by the Federal Government, the conclusions of which recently were made public by Postmaster-General Meyer in _The Woman’s World_.
Even at the rate proposed for postal depository savings, 2 per cent, the idleness of the $500,000,000 costs its possessors $10,000,000, a sum equal to the entire public debt of the United States in 1839, and almost as much as the Government spends annually in maintenance of Indians.
However, money is accounted worth in business not less than 4 per cent, and very few securities, particularly in the West, earn less than 4 per cent. The basis of computation of the $20,000,000 annual loss caused by the safety-deposit sort of security was that rate. In the industrial world money--and the very money that is now “hoarded”--is worth more than 4 per cent. The money panic of 1907 never would have happened if the buried talent of $500,000,000 had been in circulation, according to financial authorities.
As the buried talent is loss financially, so it is in every domain of possibility. In the moral and spiritual life it is even worse; the disinclination to use becomes in time inability to use. (Text.)
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