Stewardship.

I want to express the importance of stewardship to my children. Teaching them that God graciously gives us things in life and in reality, those things are not ours at all, but His. If God were to hand me a plant and say, "Coral, please take care of this plant that I am giving you." I would baby that plant and put more effort than ever to keep that plant healthy and alive. Jared and I do our best to keep that same outlook with our home, on both the inside and out. I don't understand why people let their homes go. The inside of their house is a disaster, the outside looks like a dumping ground. Not only is this not being a good steward of the things God has given them, but it is also, such a sign of not respecting themselves.
I believe that taking care of the things in our lives is symbolic for how our relationship in Christ is. Imagine with me, you see a beat up table that is on the side of the curb with a "FREE" sign attached. You decide to pick it up, because you believe their is so much more potential in it. You bring the table home and you begin to sand the wood down. Hard work and a lot of sweat later, begin to apply the stain, then the clear coat. Sure enough, the end product is something so beautiful. You know that once the table was in bad shape, it was on it's way to the dump, but a transformation had taken place. You have so much pride in your work. In fact, when your family and friends are over, you show it off to them and share with them the process. I believe that is so symbolic of our relationship with Christ. Before I dedicated my life to Christ, it was heading to the dump, with no value on it, but even in my worst state, Christ saw the potential and worth, and through Him, we are transformed and He has so much pride in us.
That is what I envision, when Jared and I do our best to be good stewards of our home.
We have developed a strong relationship with our neighbors, David and Arlene. They have really taught us a thing or two about taking care of our home. They have a beautiful yard, that reminds me of a japanese garden. Just sitting in their back yard is so refreshing. Jared and I don't have very much skill when it comes to gardening, but the neighbors have shown us how to do different landscaping ideas. No, our home is not perfect, in fact, it is very simple, but I just love the fact that they take the time to help us out. When they go to the nursery, they normally pick up two of everything they get and give us one. They buy more bark then they need and they share it with their neighbors. Even though our neighbors are in their 70s, they are making our neighborhood look beautiful and well kept, not to mention, safer.
They have taught us so much on the issue of stewardship. If we are one day late on mowing the lawn, they will come to make sure we are okay. :) When the home is taken care of, both inside and out and when everything that we own is serving it's purpose, there is such a sense of pride over a job well done.
I love to drive around and see homes that may appear pretty basic, nothing special, but see how much work the owner's have put into their home. I would choose a home that the owner was a good steward of, over a home that it the most expensive in town, but not cared for by the owner.
Stewardship is such an important value to pass on to our children, but the best way to teach it, is by example.