stewardship...

A thought about stewardship. It is my understanding that we will one day be held accountable for our stewardship. Locke also believed this in the sense that he claimed that we have no right to more property than we can properly use, that, in fact, it is through the wise use of resources that gives us claim to those resources that, ultimately, are common to all.
I have been thinking a great deal about this lately. I have too much stuff. Maybe I am the only one out there with that problem, but I find myself anxious as I look around me and see it cluttering around. “I’m sure I’ll use it someday!” is the typical justification I say to myself, and, often have done just that. However, I think this anxious feeling goes back to a fundamental realization that I am losing my property as I neglect it...losing it to deterioration or perhaps even losing it’s location :).
I have just recently taken over “stewardship” of our chickens from our 11 year old who was forgetting to water and care for them as often as I thought was healthy, and this morning, as I was doing it, felt a sublime sense of satisfaction. I wondered at this, in light of the fact that I feel like I have very little time, perhaps another complaint I share with others :). I realized that, for the first time since we got the chickens, I was taking care of them directly, completely. My hitherto unfulfilled sense of stewardship over the chickens was being satisfied!
So back to the problem with possessions– when I am not taking proper care of my possessions (sorting, organizing, etc.) I feel a fundamental struggle with, what I feel, is a primal need to care for things in my possession.... my property. When I do not show proper stewardship over something, I am losing it or at least my right to it in a very fundamental sense. You can see this in the slow deterioration of something due to neglect over time.
Now, let us say that I have “hired” or “appointed” someone to help care for that item in my stewardship. I am, in a very real sense, in bondage to them, dependent upon them to maintain it. I am watching “Ghandi” right now, and, again in a very real sense, the British began to realize that they were beholden to the Indian people for their property. Let’s look at it from another angle. Let’s say that I am a child who has been given a present. I leave it around the house, never caring for it. My mom begins to feel frustrated with me and nags me. I am frustrated as well, however, I am beginning to think it is not just because my mom nags me...it is because, again, on a fundamental level, I know that I am in bondage to her because she is helping take care of my property, and, in time, I will lose the right to that. If she is the one that cares for it, I sense that it is becoming hers, and I am dependent upon her, at this time, to own it.
So when I have too many things and require the unpredictable or unwilling help of others to help maintain those things, I feel in bondage to them, for I am!
It makes me consider: what things are fundamentally important to me? What is required to maintain them? If I am using all my time to maintain my belongings and not just what I truly need, I get bogged down, upset, stressed.
I find that, like the chickens, things that are valuable give us feelings of satisfaction upon completion, as our spirit recognizes what is truly needful. I am beginning to think that that is the best way to go...and the rest can go to the local “donation location” :).
I do believe that when we can have shared stewardship of things with others, the load is lifted, but that is a topic for another day...any thoughts, you genius friends and family?